


Breaking Universe

by JSR123



Category: Breaking Bad, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chapter updates are inconsistent, Character Tags will be added as story moves along, Depression, Early Chapters are more lightharted, Implied/Referenced Torture, None of the main characters are OCs, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Story ported from Fanfic.net, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:53:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 33,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26409031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JSR123/pseuds/JSR123
Summary: With the DEA on the hunt for him, Jesse Pinkman decides to go into hiding in the small town of Beach City, with Jesse hoping that he can make a new, peaceful life for himself, unaware that his new life is going to be anything but peaceful
Comments: 5
Kudos: 13





	1. New Beginnings

The night sky was shining down onto an old back road surrounded by nature, as a single used cigarette hit the gravelly road, with another one already being lite in the old El Camino car as the owner kept looking back and forth at the road, paranoid that someone could be following him as he threw yet another cigar out the window.

While his body was telling him to just go to sleep, he knew that he couldn’t, knowing that the DEA was chasing after him like how a dog chases after a squirrel, as even when the dog can’t possibly climb up the tree, he will not give up until he gets it and has it in his mouth. He rubbed his forehead in frustration, remembering the days where he Badger, Skinny Pete, and Combo would just relax and smoke meth, where they could smile and laugh without a single worry in the world, Jesse missed those days.

He couldn’t help but cry into the steering wheel, regretting the fact that he never even once visited one of his longtime friend's graves, but it was too late to turn back now, as he was already several states away from New Mexico. Slowly, he took his head off the steering wheel and rubbed the tears off of his face, knowing that he can’t focus on the past when he was so close to the future, all thanks to his friends.

He still remembers that day like it just happened, the roaring of the car engine and the sounds of the gate smashing open, knowing that he was finally freed from the hellish place that was his prison for months on end, but he was finally free, and all he could do was cry, cry in joy.

But those moments didn’t last forever as reality hit when the radio spoke, reminding him that, no, it wasn’t over yet. At that moment he was freaking out, at that point he didn’t know what to do, all the plans he tried to think had a problem in them that would lead to failure, which started to frustrate him, wishing that he could make the sort of plans that Mr. White could, all of his plans were full proof and always succeed at the end, and since he was his partner he should be able to make those kinda plans as well, so couldn’t he.

Eventually, he realized that if he wanted to stay a free man, he would need someone else's help, but who, all of his allies he made in the drug industry are dead, and his parents were certainly out of the question, but then he realized there two people that could count on, people that have always been there for him no matter what, so with the engine roaring, he speeded off towards Skinny Pete's house. When he finally arrived, anxiety starting swelling inside of him, he started wondering if he would just turn him down, telling him he wanted nothing to do with him anymore, but with a few deep breaths he was able to calm down, reminding himself the simple fact Pete has never let him down before in the past and has always been by his side, so with that in mind he stepped out of the car and knocked on the wooden door three times, and with a peek from his window, Pete let him in immediately.

Pete didn’t ask many questions, as he could already tell that Jesse wasn’t really in the mood for questions, but he did ask one question, “like, do you want to use the shower, I mean I already took one so it's free to use man” and Jesse accepted. The two didn’t say anything to each other, after Jesse got done taking his hot shower he laid on the couch and fell asleep immedeliantly, and while Pete would usually considered this to be rather uncool, hr could tell that his friend needed this, so with one last look of concerned, Pete went to bed and slept.

The sun high in the sky, awaking the residence of New Mexico, inviting them to a new day, and that included Skinny Pete as he got out of his bed, with the first thing he noticed was that Jesse was still asleep. With a sigh, Skinny started rummaging through his fridge, until he eventually found a sandwich in a plastic bag. With a small smile on his face he took it and started eating it, “still fresh”, he went towards the couch and was about to sit on it until he remembered that his houseguest was sleeping on it, so he opted for the floor instead and turned on the tv, but he made sure that it was low volume for Jesse’s sake. “Good morning America, for this morning's news”, the news anchor said as he started going over the latest headlines, with Pete just rolling his eyes, “man Jesse the news is so boring, like, it's just stuff about politics and stuff that only old people and boring people would like, let's see what cartoons are on”, he said to his still sleeping friend. But right when he was about to change the channel, something the anchor announce got his attention, “last night the police were called when citizens heard gunfire coming from the old compound when police got there, what they found was a massacre, nine people were found dead, seven of them killed by a machine gun”, as Pete was listening to the news story Jesse finally started to awake, with him raising his head up from the old white pillow, but before he could totally get up his eyes were also drawn to the tv. “With one of the other being killed by a shot in the head by a pistol and the other was strangled to death”, Jesse’s heart started to beat faster.

“But that's not all after some investigating the police found the basement, which was a giant meth lab, with over millions of dollars of the drug Blue Sky being found”, Jesse’s breath started to become heavier, “but they found something much more interesting than just a meth lab, as they found another dead body, but this one was shocking, as they confirmed the fifty-two-year-old drug lord, Walter White, was found dead on the stairs”, Jesse’s heartbeat started to skip with the world starting to become fuzzy, “hey wait a minute, dude, wasn’t that, like, your partner or something”, he turned around and finally noticed that Jesse was awake, with him breathing in and out very rapidly, with all of his concentration on the tv, with Pete looking back as well.

“Police started to question the callers, with them unfortunately not being able to give them anything they didn’t already know”, Jesse sighed a breath of relief, thanking God that his hopes were finally being answered, but that was cut rather short. “But luckily they were able to tell them one thing, one of the callers saw someone speeding off from the crime scene, the police are currently looking for this man, if you know anything about who this man is, please call the police immediately, and that's all we have now, we will update you once we learn more about this current investigating”, with those final words the news went to the commercial, “wow Jesse that was really something we-, Jesse, Jesse,” Pete called out when he noticed that Jesse was somehow able to get up without him noticing, but the sounds of weeping quickly told him where he is as Pete rushed towards his bathroom and saw Jesse in a fetal position, just crying on the floor. You can call Skinny Pete a lot of things, a junkie, stupid, a wannabe gangster, but what you can’t call Skinny Pete is a bad friend, as he bent down and tried to comfort him, and when that didn’t work he grabbed some tissues and gave it to dry the tears off, and while admittedly Pete is quite dense, even he can put two and two together, so knowing that his friend was in danger he knew he had to do something, but what, this kind of situation his going to take more than one person, and then a lightbulb popped up and he called the one other person that he could always allie on, as they say, two heads are better then one even if one is not the brightest. 

Badger got there as quickly as possible once he heard that Jesse was in trouble, and when he got there Pete was standing right next to Jesse who was sitting on the couch, his eyes still red from all the crying, though he was calm, somewhat. Pete quickly explained the situation to him and everything he knew, and while he was certainly curious about what all happened that night, he knew that Jesse certainly did not want to talk about it at all, and Badger actually was able to pick up on that as well.

After a little bit of discussing what to do, it became clear that Jesse would have to get out of town fast and go into hiding, and while Skinny was a bit hesitant, he knew that was the best way to avoid the cops. 

The question then became where to go, Badger suggested that Jesse could go into the countryside and find an abandoned church to stay in, saying that he saw it in a movie once, Jesse quickly pointed out that didn’t exactly end well for them. Badger then suggested again to hide in the countryside, but maybe instead of a church he goes to a barn or something, and while Jesse didn’t hate the idea, he didn’t actually want to spend the rest of his life living in a dirty old barn for the rest of his life, but Pete had an idea of his own, he suggested that he goes to a small town and he wouldn’t even need to change his appearance, but Jesse pointed out that the locals would recognize his appearance immediately and would quickly call the cops since he is now a wanted fugitive, but Pete told him that he had a specific town in mind, Beach City.

He explained to Jesse that he has been there a couple of times in the past, used to have some relatives there until they moved out a little while ago, but from the times he has been there he knew it was a very isolated town with only a population of sixty with very little tourist, with most of them being only being there for Funland, the only real reason to go there, and not only that but the residents pay very little attention to the news, most more interested in the town's problems rather than the world's problems, and to Jesse this little town was sounding better and better the more he heard of it, with it starting to sound like a place where he could truly start over, leave his old problems behind and begin again.

Badger was a little disappointed that Jesse didn’t go with his idea, but he knew that all that matters is that Jesse is safe. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to easy, as Beach City is several states over, and with the police right on his tail, and they would undoubtedly increase their search efforts not too long from now, so the best course of option would be to get Jesse there as fast as possible, and that meant he would have to go that very night.

With a map in hand, courtesy of Skinny Pete, and a bag filled with food, thanks to Badger, and with the cover of darkness on his side, he knew this was the best chance he had to get out of dodge. He got in the Camio and was about to head off when Pete and Badger came out, they wanted to come with him, but Jesse said no, not wanting to risk his friends getting into any trouble if this all goes wrong somehow, and while they were sad, and did try to convince him to let them come, Jesse absolutely refused, they both sighed, knowing no matter how hard they push, Jesse would just push harder, so with their goodbyes shared, Jesse rolled out into the darkness, with tears on the wheel.

He smiled, grateful for all his friends did for him, but that smile faded when a soft yawn escaped from his lips. Jesse started kicking his other leg, determined not to fall asleep, as sleep is an opportunity for the DEA to arrest him, but even kicking doesn’t stop his eyelids from slowly closing, until Jesse’s world went dark, as sleep overcame him.

The sun came up and shined her light on this part of the world, birds chirped as they flew in the sky and through the cloud that seemed so close but yet so far. Jesse envied the birds, they had no worries about the police or the past, just enjoying the air rush through their feathers as they look over the landscape with complete and utter freedom, being able to go and do whatever they wanted to, and Jesse wished he had that freedom in his life. When he woke up he started panicking when his brain registered that he fell asleep, but that very quickly ended when he realized he was still in his car safe and sound.

Even now he was still nervous about going to Beach City, with him being afraid that it was going to end up being too good to be true, but at this point, he knew there was no going back, so with a twist of the key the El Camino went back onto the road, and it only a few minutes afterward that he saw the town in the distance, with the welcome sign greeting him to his new life, and although he was nervous, a small smile crept onto his face and the engine roared, “Beach City here I come.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there, first time posting on this site, anyway, as you could tell this is a crossover between the awesome show Breaking Bad, and the great-for-the-first-three-seasons but go's downhill for the last two Steven Universe. I originally wrote this when El Camio was announced and published it to Fanfic.net when it released, so everything from the movie didn't happen in this fic, also I haven't seen Better Call Saul, so there are currently no plans to bring in any of the characters or elements from that show. Currently, the first five chapters are already written, which I will release in the coming weeks to give me time to write chapter six. Also important to note that updates might be inconsistent, but I do promise that I will not abandon this story.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story, and please review, I appreciate criticism good or bad, since they help me improve as a writer. I hope you have a good rest of the day, so take care.


	2. First Day

The ocean waves hit the shore, dragging sand and missing toys down into the bottom of the ocean, with no one taking notice, with parents getting up early in the morning to make the drive out of Beach City to drop them off at school, Mr. Smialy opening up Funland for the day, and a former drug dealer parking his car in a mostly empty parking lot, ready to start his new life, already knowing what to do first, find a job. As the click told him the car was successfully locked, he looked around the so-called city, seeing various shops and restaurants, with the occasional car passing by him, until his attention was drawn by the squawk of a seagull behind him, making him turn around rapidly, with him now staring at the shining, sparkling, peaceful water, calming him, while he was still afraid someone was going to recognize him, it now seemed more like a nightmare rather than a possibility, so with a smile he walked onto the sidewalk, with his hopes held high, he set off to find a legitimate job, having a gut feeling that finding a job here was going to be much easier than trying to find one in New Mexico.

But unfortunately for Jesse, his gut betrayed him as each store or building he checked wasn't looking for any more employees, shocking him since he thought a small isolated town such as this would be actively looking for more helping hands, and after about an hour of this, he was starting to lose hope as the sound of a roller coaster from Funland entered his ears, and while he considered checking, he ultimately decided against it, knowing that they probably weren't looking for any employees as well, so with a sigh, he kept on walking. At this point he really wished he had a map of some kind, as he was basically aimlessly wandering around the city, looking for any sign of a business hiring, while also trying to remember the steps he took so he wouldn't have to sleep on a bench. "So how does it look", Jesse turned around and saw what appeared to be a car wash, with an overweight, sunburned looking guy with hair so long that it goes almost to his ankles, but with the top of his head completely bald, who Jesse amused worked at the wash, talking to a lanky guy in a nice grey suit who was presumably this town's mayor, but that's not what got his attention, as while the voices made him look, it was the vehicle itself, as his eyes were hooked on the giant head which was identical of the mayor, and how does he know the man was the mayor, why, because of the words right under the head which literally said, mayor.

Jesse had to try to hold back his laughter, trying to draw away his eyes from the stupid, ridiculous looking vehicle, with even having to cover his mouth since he was just laughing that hard, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough as he heard the loud footsteps of the mayor walking towards him, with his face as red as a cherry, with Jesse now laughing and sweating bullets at the same time.

"Hey, you there, what are you laughing at", he practically yelled, with the car wash worker already running towards both of them. For a brief moment in time, everything seemed to pause except for the sweat coming from his forehead, with his thoughts suddenly going foggy, with the laughter being now caught in his throat as the world then started to seem to spin, faster, faster, faster, faster, and faster, and just as fast as it appeared it ended, even if it didn't feel like it at all.

"Hey, I'm talking to you", he yelled as he snapped his figures up to Jesse's face whose face was completely blank. Jesse blinked twice, finally realizing that there was an angry mayor right up in his face, forcing him to take a few steps back. "Sorry about that man, I, uh spaced out a bit there", he explained, which didn't quell the Mayor's anger at all, in fact, it seemed to only enrage him more. "Spaced out, SPACED OUT, do you know who I am, I'm Mayor Dewey, the mayor of this town that I have called home for the entirety of my life, the town that my great ancestors have founded, and you not only have the nerve to mock my prized vehicle, a vehicle which is the pride of the city but then dare say that you somehow spaced out from the Great Mayor Dewey, whose only goal in life is to bring happiness to the residents, who works tirelessly to bring comfort to this beloved town, is that the man that you can simply space out on", he yelled out to the whole world, with the few people that were walking by stopping in their tracks to watch their mayor rant to a tourist about how great he is, making it impossible for them to not facepalm in embarrassment, with Jesse himself being rather speechless, just utterly baffled at the whole situation.

Before the good mayor could embarrass himself further, the car wash employee finally caught up to him and quickly stepped in between the two. "Whoa, whoa, um Dewey don't you think that you might be overreacting a bit", "overacting, how is being angry at being mock overreacting", Dewey huffed, causing the overworked car wash employee to sigh, knowing that he would have to employ a different tactic to calm down the raging mayor, "well he is probably new here, I've never seen him before, and everyone knows everyone in this town, so he didn't know how, uh, important your vehicle is to this town, so maybe cut him some slack", he told him without rolling his eyes, since frankly, everyone finds his car quite the embarrassment on the town, but no one had the heart to tell him how bad it is. "Yeah man, I'm sorry for laughing at your, uh rather unique choice of transportation, if I knew how important it was to the town and all I wouldn't even consider laughing at it, so uh, are we cool", he asked, honestly just gratefully the mayor didn't recognize him. The Dewey squinted his eyes and looked into his eyes, looking for any trace of lying, but whether it been because of Jesse poker face or just out of luck, he huffed and turned around and started walking back to his car.

But suddenly he turned back around and glared at them, "fine, I accept your apology, but only because of your ignorance, if I ever see or hear you mocking this town again, I will personally kick you out of this town myself, is that clear", he yelled out to them, with Jesse starting to get rather annoyed at the man, but hold back his town, not wanting to already start drama, so he just shook his head, making the mayor smile, "good, well then Mr. Universe I should get going, got important paperwork I have to finish, so, uh, goodbye", with that he got into his car, turned on the engine and drove right past them onto the road, heading right back to his office

"Uh, sorry about that, he usually isn't like this, for the last couple of days he has been acting quite strange, maybe it just comes with the job, anyway, uh welcome to It's a Wash, can I help you with anything", "uh yeah, yeah you can, I was, uh, wondering if I could talk to the person who runs this place", he asked, "well that's me, Greg Universe, so what can I help you with."

Jesse was surprised, to say the least, as Greg didn't look like the kind of guy to run a business, but when thought about that might work to his advantage, if this was the boss doing washing the cars himself instead of sitting behind a desk doing whatever they do, then it might just mean that getting a job might finally be possible for him.

"Well, nice to meet you Greg, my name is, uh, Jesse Jackson, yes, Jesse Jackson is my name, and I was wondering if you were hiring", he asked as he started kicking himself in the brain for not thinking about what name he was going to use, and using Jesse Jackson again was bound to bite him in the ass sometime down the line, but it was too late to retract it now, so he would just have to deal with it for now.

"Wait a minute, you want an actual job here", he asked in shock, "uh yeah", "you're not pulling my chain are you, you don't want to work for Funland or anything, you wanna work here", he reaffirmed, "uh yeah, if your hiring that is", he asked, rather nervous and confused at the same time.

"Oh thank you, thank you so much, you have no idea how much I've been looking for an employee, come on we have to go to my office right away", Greg started running towards the doors with Jesse right behind him, "why", he shouted out to him, "why to start your interview of course", he said with a big, stupid grin on his face, with Jesse's face suddenly going very pale. "I-interview."

Breath in and out, breath in and out, those words were repeated over and over again in his mind as he waited for Greg to finish looking over his interview answers, as while he was sure he would get the job, he was still anxious, and he didn't know why.

"Hey uh, Jesse you can come in now", Greg peeked his head out from the door, and with one more deep breath, Jesse got up from the wooden bench and entered Greg's office, which while called an office, is barely an office at all, with clutter all over the room and posters of Elvis and other rock stars all pinned up on the walls, making Greg's plain white desk stick out like a sore thumb, heck, he doesn't even have a computer, only a notebook and a bunch of sticky notes.

Jesse sat down onto the cheap, white fold up chair that looked like it was just purchased from a garage sale, with Greg sitting on a cheap black office chair, with him holding a few papers, no doubt the ones that his potential new boss was using to take notes on. "Well Mr. Jackson, after looking through all of your answers, I'm sorry to say that you, unfortunately, didn't make the cut." At that moment his heart struck, his breath started to heaver and heaver, his mind started to rush with thoughts, "you fucking idiot, you blew it again, "you should've expected this, even when you try you still fail, like you always will", "even with such low standards you still somehow fucked it up", "of course this would happen, who would want to hire a stupid junkie like you anyway who constantly hurts others around him, who gets other people killed because of your selfishness and idiocy, in fact, you SHOULD JUST FUCKING KILL YOURSELF ALREA-." "HAHAHAHA, oh I'm just messing with you, oh course you got the job", the car wash owners laugh put a hold on the former junkie's thoughts, making him once again aware of his surroundings. "I-im sorry but can you repeat that again, I was, uh kind of lost in my head for a bit there", he told him earnestly, "well I said YOU GOT THE JOB", Greg bounced out of his chair and right next to Jesse, who looked like a fish out of water. "Are you serious, this i-isn't another joke right", Jesse asked him with shock and worry, but also with a little bit of hope, "of course I'm serious, your literally the first one to ever apply here, why I would have to be a nutcase to turn you down, so yes Jesse, you are indeed hired, welcome to the It's a Wash family, which is just me and you, but you get the idea."

Jesse jumped from the chair and shook his new boss hand vigorously, "THANK YOU SO MUCH, I promise you, Mr. Universe, you will not regret this, I will be the hardest worker you have ever seen, just thank you so much for giving me a chance, so when do I start", he said excitedly, with him actually looking forward to work.

Greg was stunned, he certainly didn't expect his first employee to be this ecstatic working at his business, but he wasn't going to complain, "well you will start tomorrow at 10:00, if, uh that works for you of course", he told him. "Oh that most certainly works with me, once again, thank you very much, Mr. Universe, I promise I won't let you down."

For the first time in weeks, he was actually excited about something without having some doubt about it, as he practically skipped down the sidewalk with a smile on his face, but that quickly came to a halt when he realized something, he didn't really know what to do, as he never really thought of what to do for the rest of the day after getting a job, so he was kinda at a loss at this point, but luckily for him, he didn't have to think about that for too long, as a loud, fearsome growl came out of Jesse's stomach, answering his question for him, and luckily for him, in the distance is what looks like to be some sort of donut shop. 'Big Donut', the letters on the building read, "huh, never heard of this one before, must be a local business of some sort", he thought to himself as he took his wallet out, opened it, and looked through, counting how much he had left, as traveling through several states was certainly not cheap, spellacy with how expensive gas is nowadays, but luckily for him, he still had about fifty dollars left, more than enough to just get some donuts.

"Noooooooooo", while Jesse expected a lot of things from the first day of his new life, he certainly wasn't expecting to see a kid screaming in despair looking into an empty freezer, and the door didn't shut behind him yet. The front glass doors shut behind Jesse, but what he assumed to be the employees didn't take any notice, more focused on the kid. "Um, what's going on here," Jesse asked curiously. The kid turned around and looked at him with tears coming out of his eyes, "what's going on here, what's going on is that there no more cookie cats."

The kid grabbed Jessie's arm and pulled him over to an empty freezer. "See, all the cookie cats, the most delicious, sumptuous treats in the whole universe, are gone, forever." The kid hugged the empty Cookie Cats freezer, with fresh tears falling onto the floor. Jessie knelt down and gently rubbed the kid's shoulder, causing him to turn around and look at him, "hey, listen I know this sucks, having something you love to just disappear like that, it hurts, it hurts a lot, heck, I still remember the day when Firefly got canceled, it just broke my heart, but do you know what I did to make myself feel better." "What", the kid asked, "well, after Firefly got canceled, one of my best friends told me about this other show called Battlestar Galaxia, he said that watching it would make me feel much better, and do you know what, it did, so even when one of your favorite things goes away, there is always another great thing to discover, whether that be a cartoon show, a movie series, or in this case an ice cream treat, do you get what I'm saying."

The kid smiled a bit, "yeah, I do, just because something bad happened, it doesn't mean it's the end of the world, and maybe it can give you a chance to discover else that is great", Jesse gave the kid a big, wide grin, "now that's the spirit, you know, if you want I can buy you something, on the house of course", Jesse said with a grin as the little boy's face lit up like a christmas tree, "you would really do that, for me", he asked with wonder, "of course, I got a fair amount of money, and since I just got a new job, I got some money to spare, soooo", Jesse stood back up and looked around the store, unit his eyes locked onto another freezer filled with what the label on the freezer called lion lickers, and with a pull the freezer opened with a gust of cold wind rushing out of the freezer, Jesse took the first Licker he saw and shut the door right behind him. He walked right back to the kid with the treat hiding behind his back, hoping that he would like it, "well kid, do you want to start your adventure of hopes and dreams, where you never know what's going to happen next, of risk and reward", Jesse said enthusiastically, with the kid responded with a cheerful nod. Well then, how about we start your journey with… Lion Lickers", Jesse said enthusiastically, but Jesse didn't get the response he was hoping for, as the kids face, which was filled with excitement, was now filled with what can only be described as shock and horror, "NOT LION LICKERS", the kid shouted out in distress.

Before Jesse could react the sound of laughter entered his ears, as he looked over his shoulders, he saw a teenager laughing his ass off, and judging by his shirt, was likely one of the employees. "O-oh that's gold right there, I don't know what was better, his reaction or your face, hahahahaha", the teenager laughed, and with a scowl on his face Jessie got back on his feet. "Hey", he shouted out with angry, but ether the teenager didn't hear him or simply didn't care as he simply kept laughing, but Jessie's eyes would be pulled away from the asshole when he heard a loud thump, and saw the kid hugging the freezer with tears in his eyes, making Jesse even angrier than before, so with a swift turn of his head, he glared at the employee, who was still laughing like a hyena on drugs, which only made him scowl more, but before he could act on his impulse, someone beat him to the punch, as the other employee elbowed him in the gut, making grunt in pain, leaving Jessie rather satisfied, but the soft sounds of crying reminding him that he has other things to worry about. But before he could talk to the kid more, the female employee spoke up, "uh, steven", she said, causing the now named Steven to look up, "do you wanna keep the freezer", she said, with Steven softly nodding his head, and he muttered out thanks as he unplugged the freezer, held it to his chest and walked right out of the store.

Jessie stared blankly at the glass door, unsure of what to do, "so, um, welcome to the Big Donut, so what can we get you", the female employee said awkwardly, "we have plenty of Stevens tears if that what you li-OW", the female employee once again stopped her fellow co-worker from making more of an ass himself, "Lars, don't you have some boxes to stack", she said sternly, making him groan, "fine if you don't want me around just say so", the moody teenager said with a huff as walked towards the back, opened the door, and slammed it shut.

The female employee groaned and shook her head as she turned around to face the new customer, "sorry about all of that, anyway, like I said welcome to the Big Donut, what can I get you", she said as she walked behind the counter with a slightly forced smile on her face. Finally remembering why he was even here in the first place, he walked towards the counter while taking his wallet out, "uh, yes, can I get", Jessie looked up towards the menu, looking to see if anything piqued his interest, and after a few seconds, he chose, "uh, can I have four of your pink glazed sprinkled donuts please, all in a bag if you can", he said politely, "sure thing, just give me a moment."

She walked to the side and got out a brown paper bag, "so, are you new here, I don't think I have seen you around here before", she asked curiously as she got the bag out, "uh, yeah, I just moved here", he responded, which piqued her interest, "wait, you moved in, as in, permanently,'' she asked with shock and curiosity, "uh, well I'm not sure about the whole permanent part yet, but I plan to live here for a very long time, so yay I have moved in", he said, making her smile a little bit more genuine. "Well then, welcome to Beach City, my name is Sadie", she said as she held her hand out, which Jessie gladly embraced, "and my name is Jesse, Jesse Jackson, nice to meet you."

Once they shook their hands they let go as Sadie was finishing packing Jesse's food, "so I'm guessing this little city of yours doesn't get new residents that much I'm guessing", Jessie said curiosity, "yeah, your the first one to move here, since, well as long as I can remember honestly", she said with a chuckle, and Jessie was glad and relieved at the same time. Sadie put all four donuts into the brown paper bag and handed it to Jessie, who then opened his wallet, "so much do they cost, six, seven dollars or", Sadie interrupted him, "consider it on the house", she said happily, "wait, seriously", Jessie asked shockingly, she nodded, "since you just move here, I think I can get away letting your first meal here be free", she said with a genuine smile on her face, putting a smile on Jesse's face, "well, I-I" he stuttered, "I don't know what to say but, thank you, thank you so much, I promise I will make it up to you in the future", he said enthusiastically with a warm, glowing smile on his face. "Oh, you don't need to do th-", but she interrupted by the sound the front door closing.

The brown bag ripped open easily, he grabbed one of the donuts and instantly ate it with one bite. "Hmmmmhfmm, this is really good", he licked his lips as he grabbed another one, but this time he took his time, wanting to enjoy each and every little bite to its fullest on the medium, brown wooden bench he was sitting on with the sun high up in the big, blue sky. Taking the last bite of the third donut, he gleefully grabbed for another one, but when he reached for it, he only felt air. Confused, Jesse looked to the right side of the bench, and the bag was gone, "wha-", "hehehehe", the former drug dealer turned his head towards the direction of the light chuckle, and saw a small, pale kid with yellow hair, holding his brown bag, with the last donut inside. Jesse got up from the bench and approached the kid, "hi, so um, the bag your holding belongs to me, honest mistake, so can I have it back", he calmly, but even then, the kid shook his head and took a few steps back. Jesse in turn also took a few steps back as well, "hey, I'm not going to hurt you okay, all I want is my food back, if you want we can share it", he assured him, so taking a few more steps, he put his hand out, only then to feel great pain in his crotch area.

"Oh god", he said as he slowly collapsed onto the sidewalk, holding his balls, with the kid running away with his food right in front of him, with Jesse only being able to silently curse under his breath. After about a minute of utter brutal agony, he slowly got back up to his feet as the pain finally started to lessen, until finally, he was somewhat steady on his feet. He sat back down onto the bench, staring towards the direction the kid ran off to, trying to muster the energy to chase after him, but he just couldn't do it, as while he was mad at the kid, he knew well enough if someone saw a grown man chasing after a child, well it wouldn't leave a good first impression on someone, besides, he was probably miles away at this point, and he really wasn't hungry anymore, so it wouldn't be worth the effort at this point.

With a groan, he got up as the pain started to disappear, and with a stretch, he was back on his own two feet. He looked up to the sky, trying to figure out what the time is. By what he could tell it was around afternoon. At this point, he realized he was now facing the same problem as before, as now he didn't know what to do for the rest of the day. At this point, he did everything that he wanted to do and he wasn't really hungry anymore at this point either. Until Jesse got an idea, "well, I know I haven't seen the whole town since so far I haven't encountered some of the places Pete told me about, so it would probably be a good idea to figure out where everything is in my new home."

The streets of beach city were mostly empty, with most people working at various jobs, whether that be working at the Beach City Theater, selling tickets to various movies like Dog Chopper, or punching library cards at the Buddwick Public Library, all places that Jesse passed by as he was making a mental map of the little town, figuring out places of interests, all the while admiring the little town, as it had everything he could possibly want in a town and more. Which made Jesse even more grateful that Pete suggested this little place to him, as it was the best place possible to go into hiding, and that was not even mentioning how beautiful the whole place was, with the shiny, sparkly aqua blue water, caressing the hot, yellow sand, with kids building sandcastles and swimming in the big blue ocean after a long, tedious day of school, making Jesse smile as he continued along his way on the boardwalk, making another mental note as he passed by a place called Beach Citywalk Fries. Jesse took a pause on his little stroll, looking over to the peaceful, calming water. He started walking over towards the water in a trance-like state as if the water was compelling him to come closer, and so he, as he left footprints into the sand below him as he got closer and closer until the waves were forming around his feet, as the ocean in front of him, showed his reflection, and all Jesse could do was stare at the fuzzy picture of himself.

Slowly the image started to change right in front of him, as he started bleeding crimson red blood from his faded scars, with his eyes becoming darker and darker until they were nothing but cold, empty shells of themselves as the sounds of chains wrapping around him echoed in all directions as his breathing started getting heavier and heavier, his heart beating like a racehorse all the while his face started forming bruises until they covered almost his entire face, with a hand cocking a gun behind him before it was aimed at the back of his head, with a finger on the trigger.

"SHIEEEEEEEEEEERK", in one single second Jesse was snapped out of his trance, with his reflection going back to normal as he stumbled backwards in shock, "what the, what the fuck just happened", Jesse shouted to himself in his head in confusion, feeling like he just awoke from a waking nightmare, but at the moment he was more concerned at the noise that sounded like it came from a giant fucking monster. "SHIEEEEEEERK", Jesse cocked his head towards the left and saw a giant, steep mountain, the place that the cry came from, and like a cat, curiosity of what the hell made the cry came over him and a death wish, so he slowly made his way to the side of the mountain. Crouching down, he slowly made his way behind a giant rock, with what heard like the sounds of a fierce battle going on only drawing him closer and closer, unit he was right up against the rock, and with little hesitation, he looked over the boulder, and what he saw amazed him and terrified him all at the same time.

He saw three different, strange colored humans also hiding behind a strangely shaped giant boulder, with, and he was not kidding, a giant fucking green centipede that looked like it came out of a Resident Evil game, spitting acid at the giant boulder, "what the fuck", was the only thing Jesse could muster to say as the thing kept spitting acid onto the boulder the weirdly multicolor humans were hiding behind. Jesse was unsure of what to do, on the one hand, he knew if he didn't do anything, those three people are most likely going to horribly die, but on the other hand, he didn't exactly want to also die a horrible death as well, and he wasn't exactly trained to fight giant fucking green centipedes. But luckily, he didn't have to make a choice, "Hey, leave them alone", out of nowhere another person entered the equation, and to Jesse's surprise, it was someone he knew, "wait, that's the kid from the store, what the hell is he doing here", he yelled to himself. "Steven no", the three yelled in unison, with Jesse paralyzed with fear as the sound of a bullet echoed in his ears, "Cookie Cat crystal powers activate", he said enthusiastically as he then, with a confident smile on his face, ate on the most scrumptious treats ever, and lifted up his shirt that revealed a gemstone of some sort in his belly button, making Jesse even more confused than before, but if it was supposed to do something it didn't, which the kid named Steven expressed, "uh-oh, aaah", he screamed in terror as the Resident Evil monster approached the kid as he ran away.

The kid ran away as fast as possible as the kaiju tried to take a bite out of him, with Jesse's legs refusing to move, no matter how much he wanted them to, but they just didn't, "we need to save steven", the pale one yelled out, but before she could do anything, the pincher tail, took a bite the hand boulder in half, "can we save ourselves first", the small purple yelled out, " come on, come on legs fucking move, I'm not, I-I can't let another fucking kid die on me", he yelled furiously to himself, but yet they still did nothing. After getting some distance on the fucking monster, Steven set down the destroyed Cookie Cat freezer down onto the sand and picked up some of the editable cats, "goodbye, my friends" and the promptly started stuffing his face with them, but like before, nothing seemed to happen, something he expressed with his fresh tears, with Jesse joining in as well, "why, why won't you FUCKING MOVE." "Why isn't it working," he said with great worry and sadness, but that worry would turn into pure fear when the monster tried to burn him alive with acid, but luckily Steven managed to jump out of the way, causing Jesse to sigh in relief. "Steven", the red one yelled out as she popped her head out, but suddenly the pincher tail rushed towards her with its pinchers open, ready to bite her into two, and Jesse could do nothing but watch, but to his surprise, she was perfectly fine, not because she was somehow able to dodge, but because she was somehow able to grab onto them and was able to hold them back from killing her, leaving Jesse in shock, and making him realize something that he should have when he became a witness to this whole entire thing in the first place, they weren't human, or at least not completely, no, they were like The Fantastic Four, people saving the day from monsters and all of that stuff since he was pretty sure a normal person can't have the strength of The Thing.

But Jesse's thought process would come to an abrupt stop when he heard the cries of the kid, making him see the kid standing over the now destroyed freezer that didn't escape the monsters wraith, "no, no no no no no no", he repeated over and over again as tears poured out of his eyes as the large centipede was distracted by its pinchers not snapping the superhero in half. But only a few seconds later, that sadness turned into something else, anger and determination. "Cookie Cat, he's a pet for your tummy, he's super duper YUMMY", the kid yelled out with pure anger as he picked up the freezer and ran towards the Kaiju at full force, "Cookie Cat, he left his family behind, COOKIE CAT", and with a swing, the freezer went flying into the air and smacked the monster in the back, causing it to screech out in pain as the electricity surged throughout its entire body, literally burning its insides, but Steven didn't cheer or even crack a smile, all he did was slump down onto his knees, only saying a couple of words, "now available, nowhere."

But that didn't stop Jesse from cheering internally, "yeah, take that you big green pile of shit", Jesse's worry started to melt away, feeling less like he was watching a horror show and more watching an old episode of Power Rangers or Sailor Moon, and that was only certified for what he witnessed next, "crystal gems, now", the hand boulder suddenly exploded into millions of pieces as the metahumans emerge with their weapons out, ready to kick some ass, "go show that monster why you don't mess with us", Jesse thought with excitement, grinning from ear to ear.

With a single leap, they were high up in the sky and came crashing down with their weapons aimed at the large space insect, and with that single attack, the fight was over, as the monster right after, poofed into nothingness, leaving only a ball of some sort, leaving Jesse somewhat disappointed, "awwww, and it was starting to get good to", he whined to himself, but he would be lying if he said that he wasn't also relieved at the same time that it ended when it did so Steven wouldn't be in any more danger. But something else caught his attention, he could finally move his legs, "oh, so now you decide to work, isn't that convenient,'' he remarked bitterly as he watched the red monster slayer pick up the ball and encased it in a bigger, shiny pink ball, and with a single movement of her hand, the pink cage disappeared into thin air. For a moment he debated with himself whether or not to reveal himself to the hero's, on the one hand, they just defeated a huge monster and were obviously trying to save the kid, even if they were in a tight spot, so they deserve some sort of congratulations, and he wouldn't be lying if he said he didn't want an autograph from them. But on the other hand, what if they recognized them since they would surely be paying attention to the news to make sure any criminals like himself wouldn't try to hide among the townsfolk and cause any trouble, and that's not even considering the fact that they may be working for a secret government agency like the men in black. Since while he doesn't watch the news that much, he's pretty sure he would've heard about a group of people with superpowers fighting giant monsters at some point or another, and who knows what they would do to him if they knew that he watched at least the end of it, as he didn't exactly want people rummaging around his brain or locked up for life and being a Guiney pig for scientists to see what the SCP's do to him or whatever other crazy shit they decide to do to him.

Weighing out the pro's and cons, he, although hesitantly, decided it would be best for him to not reveal himself and to get out while he still can, so, crouching down, he slowly tiptoed away from his former cover, keeping an eye out to make sure that he wouldn't be at risk of stepping on a squeaky toy or anything that can alert them to his presence. Grains of sand covered the bottom of his old worn-out shoes as he steadily got closer to the boardwalk, with the sun slowly going beneath the ocean to making way for the moon and the stars as the twilight slowly started to fade away, "wow, the day went faster than I thought, only felt like a few hours at most", he said to himself. Eventually, the creek of wood entered his ears as he finally got back onto the wooden boardwalk, and with a sigh of relief, he could finally give his knees a break as he stood up straight and looked towards the ocean, where the beautiful sun signed the last of her light for the day, making Jesse, for a brief moment in time, able to relax and put his mind at ease, letting him able to tune out his unwanted thoughts and just stare at the peaceful ocean as the light shimmered off of it. But a yawn, unfortunately, interrupted his brief peacefulness as his mind slowly started slipping into darkness, surprising Jesse, until he remembered something, "makes sense I guess, barley been getting any sleep for the last couple of days, damn nightmares", he said to himself as he decided to head back to his, well technically his former boss's car, but it's pretty much his car at this point anyway.

Night has finally entered the sky as the stars and moon lit up the sky, shining down their beauty, as even when the sun is down, the world is not left in total darkness, something that Jesse appreciate as he walked into the parking lot, with the El Camino waiting for him as the only car remaining in the lot. With another yawn, Jesse unlocked the car and got into the back seat, where the various suitcases laid. With a sigh he took off his jacket and his shirt, showing his scar ridden chest, and although he tried to look away, he couldn't help but look over them, remembering the crack of the whip tearing into his skin, the edge of the knife taking chunks off of him, and no matter how much he wanted to forget about it, no matter how much he wanted it to disappear, he knew it never will, as the swastika burned into his skin would never truly fade away, with his words slipping into his mind, "I hope you remember this moment for the rest of your life Mr. Pinkmen because this is the moment where, no matter where you hide, no matter where you run, you will always be our property." To this day he still remembers how much it hurt, the feeling of being locked up in chains as your skin melts off of your own body and hitting the ground like sap coming out of a tree, as you scream and scream for mercy, begging for someone, anyone to kill him, to end the horrible, burning pain, but no one answers your call, and when it's all finally over, you get back to work.

Sweat started pouring from Jesse as the sounds of weeping, screaming out in pain wouldn't go away as he tried desperately to tune them out, but they just kept getting louder. "Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up", he repeated to himself, but no matter how much he begged, they didn't stop, "I said shut up", he said under his breath with rage boiling inside him like a kettle, but they still didn't stop, and eventually, the rage reached its boiling point, "I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP", he yelled with all of his fury, finally ending the noise.

Jesse huffed and puffed as the sweat started to slow down. "Oh thank god, I thought I was going crazy", he tried to reassure himself, but in the back of his mind, he himself didn't totally believe it. Finally starting to calm down, he started rummaging around his suitcases, until finally finding a white, blank T-shirt, "not the first choice I would've gone with, but it should do", without a second thought he put it on as quickly as possible, wanting them out of his site as quickly as possible, but unfortunately, the mark was still naked on his arm, but he knew he would just have to bear it as he opened another case and took off his shoes and socks and stuck them in the case, and with that one close he opened another one and took out a small blanket that barely covered him and a pillow with various dry stains on it, making him groan as even after sleeping on it ever since going his little road trip, he still wasn't totally used to sleeping on it, but just like the hate symbol on his arm, he would just have to deal with it as he did since he began this journey of his for a better life.

With one sigh last sigh he laid his head on the stained pillow and pulled the blanket over him with his toes sticking out, causing him to sigh, but decided to just ignore it as he slowly closed his eyes and finally let sleep overcame him, hoping for a peaceful night, with the chirps of crickets being the only remaining sound throughout the parking lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was chapter 2, I hope you all enjoy and look forward to chapter 3 coming next week, if you want to see me improve then leave a comment, I hope you have a great rest of your day and take care.


	3. Underground Fun

Darkness was all around him as the shadows stared at him intently as he ran through the empty corridor, with a familiar voice calling for him, "Jesse, help, there going to kill me", Jesse quicken his pace, "hold on, I'm coming for you", he yelled out to the woman. The woman started sobbing, "please, don't hurt him", she wailed out as Jesse went into a sprint, with the shadows staring at him like prey. The corridor seemed to be endless as if he was running in circles, as the cries of the woman echoed around him, "why did I do it, why did I do it", he repeated to, just then another voice entered, "we warned you, Jesse, now you have to face the consequences'', the menacing voice said as the cries got louder, "please, don't hurt her, she has nothing to do with this", he yelled out, but he got no response in return. The corridor started to slowly get brighter, coming from the very end of it, "Andrea I'm coming", he yelled out as the light started to consume him until he saw it. He had the gun pointed right at her head, grinning, "I told you there be consequences Jesse, but you didn't listen now did you", the sick man said, "Todd, please, don't do this, I-i will do anything you say, she has nothing to do with this", he shouted out, his voice quivering. But the child killer shook his head in disappointment, "sorry Jesse, but now she is involved with this", he said as his finger slowly pulled the trigger, wanting to savor this moment. "Jesse, please, do something, I don't want to die", she cried out, "Todd you don't hav-", but he was cut off by the sound of a gunshot.

"NOOOOOOOOO", he ran towards Andra as Todd took a step back, looking over his work, rather satisfied with himself, knowing that his bosses would be pleased. He ran up to the porch and collapsed onto his knees and held Andrea, trying to find any sort of pulse, even when the hole in her head told him otherwise. "Hey", tod kneeled down right next to the grieving man, he patted him right on the back, "tell me when you're done okay, you still have some work to get done okay", all Jessie could do was silently nod as the murderer walked off, leaving the griefing man alone. "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry", he said to the dead body, hoping that she would hear his words somehow, and she did. "Jes-sie is that you", the body spoke, shocking Jessie, but also relieving him, "y-your alive, hold on okay, i-i will call an ambulance", he told her, just happy that she was still alive, giving him a chance to make this right, unfortunately for him though, he didn't notice that there was still no pulse. "Jessie, why, why did you do this to me", her voice started to get deeper, but once again he didn't notice, "I didn't mean to Andra, I thought that they were just bluffing, that I could make it, I honestly did, I know I fucked up big time, but they're still a cha-", her pale arm suddenly grabbed Jess's hand and held it in a suffocating grip, her eye's opening to clear, white eyes. "Why did you do this to me Jesse, why", she hissed at him, dread quickly overtaking him, "I-i didn't mean to", he whimpered out, "answer me, Jesse, why did you do this", she shouted out, as the front door opened, drawing his attention, and saw a face that he thought he would never see again, "why did you let me die", the corpse of Drew Sharp said, with his flesh dropping onto the floor, pouring out acid. "Why did you murder me", he snapped his head to the right, seeing the dead, cold eyes of Gale, staring at him "I didn't wan-"

But suddenly he heard the ringing of a bell coming behind him and saw a kid riding a bike, cycling in a circle, with cold, dead eyes staring at him, "why did you tell them to kill me", he asked, "I didn't know they would kill you", he yelled out as tears poured from him. "Join us, Jesse, to repent", the gravelly voice of the undead Andra said, "n-no I don't want to", he whimpered like a kicked dog, her grip on him got tighter, "join us", "join us, "join us, "join them", all five of them shouted at him, with a sixth voice joining, "join me, Jesse, so we could be together forever", to his right, walking down the sidewalk, was the decaying body of Jane. "Please Andra, let me go, I-i will make it up to you, I will make it up to all of you, I promise", he shouted out as fear and sadness entered his voice. "You will make it up Jesse", right as she said that, her mouth opened revealing razor-sharp teeth that could go right through bone, "please, anyone, HELP ME", he shouted out in pure fear, "by death", she said as her head jumped up with her mouth ride open, with Jesse only able to scream out, before suddenly waking up in a cold sweat.

He huffed and puffed as he examined his surroundings, realizing he was still in his now permanently borrowed car as sweat poured down his shoulders, "oh thank god, it was just a nightmare, it was just a nightmare", he repeated to himself to calm his nerves. Tears started dripping onto the seats, "It's okay, that's all behind you now", he told himself to make himself feel better, but it didn't work. But before he could muse on it any longer, he felt an uncomfortable feeling in his crotch area made him realize he had something else to deal with, causing him to quickly throw his blanket off of him and jump out of the car. Without barley thinking, he rushed towards a local bush growing in peace against the chain-link fence, but that peace would be interrupted when a stream of weird yellow water poured on it, with moans of satisfaction filling the air.

"Hey, what've doing", without even thinking he quickly turned around, with his urine flying into the air and hitting the cement. What he saw terrified him, three teenagers, a very pale boy, a boy who was trying way too hard to be cool, literally wearing sunglasses at night, and a Mexican girl wearing a cool and fancy jacket. Pure embarrassment washed over him as the teens just stared in shock as the pee started to dwindle until the last few drop few onto the pavement. "Uhhhh, I can explain", Jesse muttered out, but before he could explain, the high schoolers burst out laughing. In response, Jesse also started laughing but much more nervously, "hahaha, uh, hey don't worry man, I get it, when you gotta go, you gotta go", the boy in shades said, making Jesse a little more relieved. But that relief quickly ended when he heard the snapping of a photo, "nice", the girl teen said.

"Hey, you better delete that", Jesse yelled out in an uncomfortable tone, "why should I", she said with a cat-like grin on her face, "I'm sure the mayor would like to see this." "I thought you said you understood", he panicaly said to the guy in shades, but he just shrugged his shoulders, "I do, but that doesn't mean we would give up a chance like this", he said with a slight hint of a chuckle in his plain voice. "What chance", he bitterly said as his mind rushed through idea after idea, trying to find something that would make her delete it because he knew if she showed it to him, he was screwed. "The chance of blackmailing an adult to do our bidding, unless you want the whole town to know that you showed three teenagers your little noodle", she said with a cheeky grin on her face, "oh you son of a bitch."

"What would that be, exactly", he asked, hoping it wouldn't be anything too bad, but her chuckle didn't exactly reassure him, "you will find out soon enough, come on guys, we have a movie to catch", she said to her posse. Jesse glared at the blackmailing teens as they walked away, but before they disappeared, the shades guy turned around and looked at him, "hey, you've just going to let that little guy hang out", he said, "what", Jesse said, confused about what he was talking about. In response the sunglass guy just pointed at his privates, making Jesse realize what he meant, as he quickly pulled up his pants as the teen continued his walk to the movie theater. "God damn it", he muttered to himself as he looked up to the sky, trying to get some idea of what time it is. From what he could gather it was around midnight, meaning he still had around nine to ten hours before work, and he doesn't exactly want to try to go back to sleep at the moment.

"Well I guess I could see what the nightlife is like in the town", he said to himself as he walked back to his car and opened one of his suitcases and took out platted open button shirt and slid it over his arms, and with a slam of the door, he walked off into the night. Not surprisingly, all of the lights around the town were out, with only the moon giving him any sort of light. He started to wonder if this was a mistake, but after that dream of his, he was in no rush to go back to sleep. A sigh came out of the scarred man's lips as he took a break from walking and stared out to the ocean, admiring the moonlight reflecting off of the water, sparkling, putting him at ease as his thoughts went blank.

But his peacefulness ended when a red two-seat truck pulled upright by him, fear gripped his heart intensely as it pounded like a drum, and when the window slid down, he saw the worker who gave him the free donuts. "Jake, was it", Sadie asked him, "uh, its Jesse actually", he corrected her, as the anxiety let go of his heart, slitting back into its cave "oh sorry, anyway, what are you doing up so late", she asked curiously. Jesse hesitated for a moment, before answering, "oh, I couldn't go to sleep, with all the stress of moving into a new town, you know", Jesse told her, hoping she wouldn't press him farther, and luckily she didn't, as she gave him an understanding nod, "yeah, I still remember when me and my mom moved here when I was a kid, the first night I spent here I ended up punking into the toilet, caused me to have to miss my first day at Pug elementary in the town over, I was so embarrassed", she said while giggling.

"So then, uh, why are you up this late, if you don't mind me asking that is", the former drug dealer asked nervously, "I was just making my way to the ring, don't want to miss the One Arm Wrestling tournament", she said with a small glimmer of excitement in her eyes. "Wait, wait, hold on, what did you just say", Jesse said, being sure that he just imagined it, "as I said, I was riding up to the wrestling ring, do you wanna come", "OF COURSE I WANNA COME", he shouted out with pure glee, with a fiery passion in his eyes, with the unfortunate side effect of almost scaring Sadie to death. Without a second thought, he swung the door open and quickly climbed up to his seat, slamming the door shut behind, with a big, stupid grin on his face, like he was a kid at Christmas about to open his first present. "Come on, let's go", he said while the donut girl was still reeling back in shock of the man's sudden shift in mood, but it only took a second to get her bearing back, and promptly turned the key, making the engine roar as the wheel started to turn until they were eventually rolling down the road with the moon watching them from the sky.

"So, uh, you really like wrestling then", she asked, even though she already knew the answer, "who doesn't, it has everything anyone could ask for, costumes, drama, action, and so much more,I still remember the epic showdown between Triple H and Shawn Micheal, during the whole entire fight I was on the edge of my seat. But the best part happened at the end of the match, when Triple slammed a sledgehammer against Micheals skull, like, it was so cool", Jesse said with glee in his eyes, "yeah, sounds cool", Sadie awkwardly said, not understanding what was cool about possible brain damage. "After that I watched every wrestling match that I possibly could, trying to find whatever clips I could of old matches", he told her as a wave of nostalgia came over him, remembering the times when everything was so simple. "What's your favorite match", he asked suddenly, "well, I", but she wasn't able to finish her sentence, "is it the fight between Jake the Snake vs THE MACHO MAN", he screamed out, once again startling the poor women. "Or is it the absolutely brutal match between the Rock and Mankind, or i-", "hey, I would appreciate it if you would actually let me answer", she said sternly, "o-oh, sorry", Jesse said in embarrassment.

"It's fine, anyway, I don't watch many matches on TV, don't have much time for it during the day, but I am able to see most of the local matches, so that's where my experience comes in. But if I had to choose one I'd guess it would be the match between Jeff Hardy and CM Punk", she answered "Good choice, good choice."

"Did you find a job yet", a proud smile came onto Jesse's face, "I did, actually, I am now an employee at It's a Wash", "oh, so he finally got someone to work for him", she said with a reviled smile. "You know him", he asked "yeah, everyone kinda knows everyone here, I mean you already met his son", she told him, catching him off guard. "Wait, so the kid that kicked me in the dick is my boss's son", "Yeah th-, wait what", she said, shocked of what she just heard, "when did that happen", she asked mouth agape. "Like, when I came out this pale kid, with, like, mustard hair came up to me and kicked me in the balls, stole the rest of the donuts and ran off", he explained, causing the short women to sigh when she realized who the ball kicker was.

"That would be Onion, I knew he was a troublemaker, but I didn't think he would go so far to steal, he used to be such a sweet kid too." She mumbled the last part to herself as her eyes slumped, remembering times long past, which Jesse picked up on, but ultimately decided not to pry, knowing it was none of his business. "Well don't worry, tomorrow I will go over to his mom's house and tell her what happened, hop-", but Jesse quickly interrupted, "there's no need for that" he quickly said, taking Sadie off guard. "What do you mean there's no need for that", "it's just that, you know, really not that big of a deal." "H- how is it not that big of a deal, he literally stole from you", she said, her eyes bulging out, "maybe the kid was just hungry, you never, besides, I've gone through worse", "much worse", he added to himself, as the blonde girl in front of him gave him a look as though he was crazy. "He comes from a decent family, I'm sure he has an enough to eat, and even if he didn't, it doesn't excuse him from stealing", she said sternly, "listen, I'm not asking you this for him, okay, I just moved here and I don't want to start any trouble okay, so, can you just let this okay", he asked her, giving her a puppy dog look, before she finally gave in, "fine, but if he does this again to you or anybody else, then I will tell his parents", Jesse sighed in relief, "that's all I'm asking", a gratefully smile appeared on the scarred mans face, making a tiny grin appear on her face as well. Showing his thanks, he patted Sadie on her brown, leather jacket with white fur trimmings. Shocked by the sudden feeling on her shoulder, she slapped her shoulder, but Jesse's reflexes kicked and was able to avoid the slap.

Realizing what touched her, she quickly turned her head and glared at him, "sorry sorry, I, uh, didn't mean to startle you", he said with a very awkward smile on his face, "it's fine", she said in response. An awkward silence came over the two as they passed by street lights. With nothing else to do Jesse looked through the window, wondering how to break the silence without making things worse as he has before. "We're here", but Jesse didn't have to do that, as right in front of them was the semi-abandoned warehouse. Breaking him out of his thoughts, he quickly got out, barely containing his excitement, and before Sadie could even unbuckle herself, he ran towards the former storage building, passing by the other cars parked.

Swinging the doors open, Jesse was greeted by the lights shining down, the audience already sitting and waiting on their foldable chairs waiting for the show to start as the ring in the middle waiting for the challengers. Seeing the ring made his excitement go off the charts, ready to blast off to a seat, but he was stopped by a voice. "Hey, where are you going." To his left was a large man with brown skin, sporting a huge smile on his face, "hahaha ah, I know we're all excited and all, but someone must pay for all of this, so, sorry, but you need to buy a ticket." These words made him stop in his tracks, with embarrassment quickly coming over him, "oh, sorry dude, uh, just let me get by wallet", Jesse told him, "it's alright, I know how thrilling these kinds of events are, I should know, since I am the one that started this in the first place", he said, still with the big shiny smile.

"W-wait a second, you're the one that runs this place", now that caught him off guard, expecting some rich old guy to be running the show, but this person looks like he still is in his early twenties. "Yep, sure am, names Harold Smiley, although you can just call me smiley", he reached his hand out, which Jesse gladly accepted, "names Jesse, Jesse Jackson", he told him in response, "why it's nice to meet you." After letting go of each other's hand, Jesse went back to search his pockets, until he finally found it. "So how much", he asked Smiley, "it is ten dollars for one person", "got it." "You know I think this is the first time I ever saw you, you're new around here", the cheery man asked, "yeah man, I just moved here, like, ten hours a ago." "Wait, you moved here today", Smiley, seeing an opportunity that he has never done before, quickly capitalized on it, "well if you're looking for a job, you're in luck, as Funland is looking for potential workers, annnnd", he got out of his folding chair, and started twirling with his hands up in the air, before doing a backflip, landing perfectly, and spreading his arms out and shaking his hands, "you can become part of our familllllllyyyyy-ah." Jesse was stunned, never seeing a job proposal being this theatrical, and never suspecting that the man in front of him is actually a pretty good singer. But there was one other thing that stuck out to him, "wait a minute, so you, like, a higher-up at Funland", but Smiley shook his head, "no, I'm not, I'm the founder and CEO of Funland."

His mouth now gaped, trying to say something, not even thinking that the receptionist for the local WWE tournament would also be the CEO of an amusement park. "I know I don't seem to be the type of person to host these kinds of things, but trust me when I say that I love wrestling as an art form", he said proudly, all the while getting back on his chair, "so, you in." "Well, you see I kind of already found a job", he awkwardly said, realizing that if he actually checked the place out, he could have gotten a way more cool job. While Smiley didn't show it, his soul was crushed, barely able to keep smiling, "so thanks for the offer, besides, I don't think it would of fit me anyway", he told him, after thinking about it for a few seconds, it wasn't worth the risk of getting caught just so he could potentially get a discount for the rides. "Hey don't worry about it okay, there's more than enough people wanting to work at Funland anyway", he lied, never understanding why it's so hard to find people to work for him, who wouldn't want to work at an amusement park, but he reassured himself that he will find an employee someday, he hoped. Taking the ten-dollar out of his black leather wallet, he placed it on the desk, which Smiley gladly picked up, grabbing a black suitcase on the floor right next to him, opened it, and put the money inside. "So in total, that is one-hundred-fifty dollars, great, that should be enough for the prize money", he said to himself, temporarily forgetting the person in front of him.

Realizing what the joyful man said, he looked around the rest of the room and noticed how little people there are, which Smiley took notice of. "You don't get a lot of people, do you", the former drug dealer observed, making the grinning man sigh, "yep, only a few people around here are interested in wrestling, very niche around here, wish I could just convey of how great it is, but oh what can you do", he sadly mused. Jesse could sympathize with the man, remembering how little people knew about Young Bleed when he was growing up. Then Jesse realized something, something he forgot, or rather someone he forgot. He quickly looked behind him, no one was there, he turned to the door, no one was by the door, "I'm right here you know." Jesse screamed, making everyone in the audience turn towards the two, making Jesse blush in embarrassment. "Uh, how long were you standing there", he asked, as the audience turned back to the stage, waiting for the match to start, "about thirty seconds or so, was just making sure I had everything in order, then I saw you two talking and I didn't want to interpret", she told him bluntly.

"Oh, hello Sadie, sorry I didn't see you there, I see you two know each other", Mr. Smiley said, "yeah, I was the one that introduced him to this place", she told with a grin, making his smile somehow grow even bigger, making Jesse wonder if he was just that happy, or if his face was just stuck like that. "That's great, that's great, always great to have more customers, more customers means a bigger prize, and bigger stakes means better excitement, that's what I always say, hahaha ah." "I know, here you go", Sadie took out two five-dollar bills and handed it over to him, who once again put it into his suitcase, but when she was taking more money out, Smiley stopped her. "Your friend already paid, no need for anymore alright, now you two get some popcorn and get into your seats, the show is about to start, show you guys have fun", with those last words, the two of them went on there way to the popcorn machine.

Picking up the bland popcorn cup, Sadie filled it up, and so did Jesse after she was finished, and once there were done, went to the second row and sat down, waiting for the show to start, with Jesse barely containing his excitement. "Ladies and gentlemen, WELCOME TO THE ONE-ARMED TOURNAMENT", the crowd cheered, with Jesse being the loudest. "WELL THEN LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD", the crowd cheered even louder than before, "now, this tournament is different than the rest, the constant will have one of there arms tied around their back, and whoever wins, will GET ONE-HUNDRED SIXTY DOLLARS." The man yelled at the top of his lungs, wanting to make sure they heard him over there screaming and cheers, "now let us meet our first constants, please welcome, THE LOCH NESS BLOGGSTER." The contestant came out of the curtains to the right of the stage, and Jesse was firmly disappointed, as what came out was a chubby teenager with fry like hair, wearing a kilt and a suit and tie, and a poorly made lizard on his head, looking like a first time cosplayer. "AND HIS OPPONENT, CHUNK TRUCK", already experiencing second-hand embarrassment by the name alone, he wasn't disappointed that the guy that came out just looked like any other construction worker, "guess its better than the shit cosplayer."

After introducing them, the opponents went up on stage, "so, you two have anything to say to each other before you fight", he egged them on, "y-yes, I'm the loch ness blogster, and I will prove to everyone here that I'm the best blogger, of all time", he shouted, expecting applause, but got none, with Jesse facepalming and Sadie sighing in response. "Ha, you think you can beat me loch ness loser, I'll show you why they call me a truck", he said proudly. "Now you all know the rules you can only use your right arm during the match, and if that left arm even twitches, you are disqualified, and to ensure that, well, volunteers'', to men wearing yellow shirts caring rope, and when they got to them, they tied their arm behind their back, and when finished went back behind the curtains. "NOW LET'S BEGIN", Chunk Trump was the first one to make a move, rushing towards the poor man's monster, but luckily for him, he was barely able to dodge out of the way, almost falling in the process. Taking the opportunity that was presented towards, he put his arm out, running towards him screaming, but the Chunk was able to counterattack, able to grab the teens arm in one shift move, and suplex him, his body slamming against the floor making a loud bang echo throughout the underground. "Ouch", Sadie cringed in response, feeling empathy for the conspiracy theorist, but Jesse has the opposite reaction, "YEAAHHHH, YOU GO CHUNK, FUCK HIM UP, FUCK HIM UP", he shouted in excitement, not notching the stares he was getting, "wow, I've not seen someone get this excited since we announce the nude tournament, hahahahaha", laughing at his own joke.

Barely able to get up with just one hand, it was easy for the truck to pin down, "please, I surrender, I surrender", the teen cried out. "Three, two, ONE, and that is the match, it seems big truck will be going on to the next round, better luck next time lochkey", getting off the teen, the fry haired man, quickly got up and ran out of the ring as fast as he could, not wanting anyone to see the shame on his face. "YEAH COME ONE, let's get to the next match already", he cried out, still standing, still bringing attention to himself and Sadie, who was trying to avoid eye contact with any of them. Finally having enough, Sadie pulled him back down, glaring at him like a disappointed mother, shutting him up before he could say anything back. "Well it seems someones excited, so let's bring out our next opponents, so give it up for SHARK-O-MANIA." The man that came out actually had some muscle on him, which didn't make his costume any less silly, and while Jesse, being an avid wrestling fan, usually liked the costumes, even he had a limit, "well I guess it's less lame than the other one." "And his changer, the one, the only, the most hated wrestler of all time, THE PURPLE PUMA", now that is a wrestler, a big, bulky man came out, who was indeed purple, wearing but a black leotard and a mask. "BOOOO, BOOOOO", the other attendees stood up and booed at him, but he paid no time to them as he flexed his muscles.

"YEAH, YOU GO PUMA, YOU KICK HIS SHARK FIN ALL THE WAY TO THE OCEAN, WOOO", Jesse cheered, trying to counteract the booing, he always loved the heels the most. The Puma man took notice of him and gave him a thumbs-up, which Jesse gladly returned, "it seems the Puma has a new fan, s-", "come on let's start already, I wanna break some bones", the Purple Puma interrupted. "Since someone is so eager, volunteers, you know what to do", the same ones came out once again, tieing their arms around their back, with the rope for the Puma barely staying on. "NOW LETS RUMBLE", the puma let out a fierce roar as he leaped towards the shark man, and while he attempted to escape, the leopard was able to grab his victim's leg, and with only one arm, hurled him towards ring rope, which caught him, pulled back, and swung back towards the Puma, and before the mand could even scream, a fist knocked his lights out. The crowd booed as the Puma posed over his victim before the volunteers pulled him out of the ring to somewhere more comfortable, while Jesse was staring at him in absolute embarrassment, "I bet he could take on the Undertaker", he thought to himself. "This is easily the fastest tournament we have ever had in the history of this ring, as the next match will be the last for tonight", the crowd once again booed, while Jesse sighed in disappointment, "it was just getting good as well", he mumbled to himself, "thank god", Sadie also mumbled, wanting to end this awarded night already which started out so well in the beginning.

"So Chunk Truck, COME ON OUT", he said like a game show host, but Chunk himself looked quite nervous, which was justified since he knew he stood no chance against the PUma, his hopes that he wouldn't show up tonight dashed. Puma smiled at him like a crocodile, which didn't help his nerves, making him consider to just back out, which he decided was probably the right decision if he didn't want to explain to his wife why he had a broken arm, "hey is it t-", "NOW LET'S FINISH THIS, FIGHT". "COME HERE CHUNKY", she roared out like an animal, and the Chunk man ran as fast he could to the furthest corner, which was a mistake, as the bodybuilder was able to quickly close the gap between them. "Your now mine big boy", he said menacingly, and before the man could even plead, the Puma picked him up, even without a second arm, and slammed him into the ground, making the audience gasp, and making Jesse grin even wider, starting to hurt. Before he could even attempt to get up, he picked him up once again and started to twirl and twirl, getting faster and faster as the Truck started to feel sick, before he finally let go, causing the Truck to go to the floor below, right between the two-row of chairs, causing all of them to look at the victim, who was barely able to stand, revealing a bloody nose that was probably broken and severe bruises all around his face. While everyone else was disguised, Jesse was just reveling in it, besides he has seen far worse things in other wrestling matches. "Now that's what I'm talking about", everyone turned back to the stage, where they saw Puma kissing his muscles while gloating.

"How disgusting", the new voice said, causing everyone to try to locate the voice, "you should ashamed of yourself", now that caught the brutal wrestlers attention, "what did you say", he asked in a growl, "you know what I said", "well then why don't you come here and say it to my face then, or are you just a coward", Jesse has a hunch this wasn't part of the show, because unless he is a great actor, he can tell that he was generally angry. "Gladly", a figure jumped down from the rafters above and onto the ring. The first thing Jesse noticed about this man was that he was huge, bulging muscles, thick thighs, and taller than Andrea the Giant, "holy shit, this man is ripped", he said to himself. The second thing that stood out was his costume, which was a bodysuit with flames all over it, completing the white in between, making him look like a racecar driver, with a simple red mask covering his face, letting his yellow locks float in the air. He was stunned, this man came out like a superhero in a comic book or the people that defeated the giant centipede, it was easily one of the coolest introductions he has ever seen. "Well now this is certainly surprising, I wasn't expecting Flameman to appear after so long", Smiley said to the crowd, "who's Flameman", Jesse whispered in Sadie's ear, "he was the former champion of the Beach City wrestling ring, I never any shows that he was in, but from what I heard he was absolutely ruthless in the ring, they even say that he paralyzed a man", Jesse just rolled his eyes, probably just rumor spread by the guy to make himself more intimidating, "so why did he leave the ring than", he asked, but Sadie just shrugged her shoulders, "don't know, from what I heard he just left one day, didn't give any reason, he just kinda did it", she answered, "maybe he is here to claim back his title", he told here, "maybe, but I got a feeling that there is more to it."

"I'm here to show this punk what it means to be a wrestler", he proudly said, but the Puma just laughed in response, "what, that's it about the power of friendship and all that bullcrap, give me a break gramps, so do you wanna fight or what, because if you don't, then go somewhere else while I receive my belt", she mocked. Smiley rubbed his chin in thought before he had an idea, "change of rules, today's final match will be between our former champion and our current champion, and whoever wins get the belt and the money, hahahaha", he laughed, but Puma was not amused, "hey, that ain't fair, I won this tournament fair and square", she yelled angrily at him, but he just blew her off, "life isn't ever fair, but since you asked so nicely, you don't need your arm tied around your back for this one, okay."

His scroll slightly faded, "fine, been wanting to take this stupid thing off for an awhile now", without even trying, he broke out of the rope so easily it might as well been tissue paper, "come on gramps, lets fight." "One, two, THREE, and fight", Puma ran towards the middle-aged man, who stood there slightly, he jumped, ready to land on the man, but Flame was easily able to dodge. With a glare, he tried to grapple him, but Flame was able to put his arms up in defense, their hands now together, trying to push the other down. But Puma realized he didn't have to as a grin came onto his face, and in one swift moment, he kicked Flameman right in the stomach, throwing him off of him. Flame was able to quickly get back up, "that wa-", "cheap, yeah, but this is freeform wrestling baby, so if you have a problem with that, then get outta here", he told the face.

"No, I have a problem with you", before the heel could respond, the face jumped onto him and was able to pin him down, "your a disgrace to wrestling, brutalize your opponents, th-", "dishonorable, so what, I come here to have fun, and I'm not going to let you ruin this for me", he screamed out, pulled his legs down, then launched him into the sky, jumped, and with both of his hands making a fist, pelted him right back down onto the ring, almost making him go through it. Jesse gasped, never seeing that before in any wrestling match. Puma landed back down and stomped his foot down onto the face's chest, holding him down. "Let me tell you something old man, if I ever, and I mean ever, see your face around here again, I'll make sure this is the last time you ever move, got it", he threatened him with a sadistic smile.

Now this is what he called a match, fighting, threats, drama, this is everything Jesse loved about wrestling, it was like reality tv but actually real, and it was even better when he was able to watch it without his dictators of parents not knowing, and no matter how many times they scolded him, it was always worth it at the end.

"Three, two, ONE, and that's a match, Puma has won the tournament, again", he yelled out to the audience, with the only one happy being Jesse, and even though Smiley had a smile on his face, he was also not happy, his hopes dashed that Flameman could actually beat the beast of the ring. "PUMA YOU ROCK", shouted Jesse, who always loved the heels the most, since their lack of restraint always made it more fun for him, which made it even better when Puma once again looked at him and gave him a smile in thanks, which he happily accepted. One of the volunteers came out with the suitcase filled with money and the golden belt, barely hiding his fear as he got closer to the monster, who still had his foot on the former champion's chest. "A-are you going to let him go", the man asked, shivering, ready to run at any moment. "Huh", he said in confusion, before he quickly realized what he meant, and promptly lifted his foot off his chest, faking an apologetic look on his face. With one final glare, Flame walked off, reassuring himself that he will get him next time, not wanting another brute to rule the ring before taking it too far.

Once the loser got out of sight, the big guy grabbed the belt and suitcase eagerly, before putting the thing on, another one for the collection, and holding the case full of money up triumphantly, and got exactly what she expected booing, but they were not worth listening to, that's what she always told herself, they or the nagger didn't know what they were talking about. But she did, for whatever reason have one fan, that kept cheering her on throughout the night, and she didn't get it, at all, so all she could conclude was that he was a weirdo, and besides, she didn't any support, she just needed herself, food, and sleeping, so with a proud smile, she walked out of the ring. With scowls on their faces, the audience started to walk out, with Sadie and Jesse right behind them. "That was so cool", he said to her, but she just sighed, while he wasn't a bad guy, she didn't expect him to get this excited, she just wanted a night hanging out with a friend, to be honest, she wasn't even planning to go after Lars canceled on her, but then she saw Jesse looking out to the ocean, remembering that he was polite, she thought that maybe he would want to instead, but she never thought that he was that into wrestling, and it honestly ruined the night for her, and after this, she was sure that she wouldn't invite him again.

That was the most fun that he had in a long time, it was just what he needed after…that, he honestly even surprised himself for how excited he was, while he always enjoyed wrestling, he never really gotten this passionate about it before, and he even had not seen a single match after that encounter he had, which felt like it was decades ago, when it was only two years ago. But Jesse ultimately decided that he didn't want to think about bad memories at the moment, as he wanted something else, "hey Sadie", "yeah Jesse", "I will meet you by your truck in a minute okay, I just need to take care of something", he told her, innocently enough, "sure, just make it quickie oka", she told him, just thinking that he had to go to the bathroom, unaware, that he was after something else, "I will, thanks."

"Another one for the collection", the purple space rock alien said to herself as she closed the door behind, now standing in an alleyway. Usually, she would be thrilled, proving to herself once again that she wasn't a total failure, even if that didn't last long before she would screw another thing up, but that mood was soured by the old geezer, "what was his problem, can't he let other people have fun, so what if they get a little banged up, it wasn't her problem, they could've left at any time", she thought to herself, trying to make herself feel better, but it didn't work, it never worked, not notching the door opening behind her opening. "Better get back soon before Pearl notches I'm gone, not in the mood for one of her stupid rants, just thinking about it gives me a headache", she said to herself, before transforming back into her original form. Once her transformation was complete she turned back around, ready to the joint, but right in front of her was a man that looked like someone that just got back from a war, and that man was staring at her, mouth agape, "oh, high"

Several states away, Pete was sleeping on his torn couch, drugs all over his table and wooden floor, that was until he heard a knock on the door, waking him up, "w-what", he said, his mind trying to register what was going, which was quite difficult with all the drugs in his system. Pete didn't exactly have a good week, first, he found his friend like he got mauled, then he left the state, probably never coming back, and worst of all he had to watch the news on a daily basis, wanting to make sure the DEA didn't connect anything with there instigation of the shooting with Jesse, which unfortunately they did, finding that he was making drugs for a neo-nazi group and that he was most likely tortured. Ever since then he has been on edge, knowing it was only a matter of time before they decided to interview him, luckily though he had his candy to calm down his nerves, and besides, whatever they do, he wouldn't rat out his friend like that, the last thing he wanted was to put his friend in another cage, after seeing his friend in that state, he would make sure that didn't happen.

Before he could react, Pete fell down onto the floor, moaning, when he got back up, his brain finally caught up to him, "oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck", he kept repeating to himself, finally, they got to him, and having drugs all over the place would only make things worse. But then he started to calm, as he realized that it was probably just Badger, this wouldn't be the first time that came over at night, after all, he wasn't actually great at paying his various landlords. There was more knocking at the more, this time more forcefully, "I'm coming badger alright, just me a second, geez", he said, quite annoyed, while he would be the first to admit that wasn't exactly great with paying on times all well, with Badger it seemed like he never could, at this point, he was surprised that landlords still took him in, Badger wasn't exactly charismatic. Slogging over to the door he opened, expecting one of his best friends, but instead, he got a gun pointed at him, "we need to talk."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was chapter 3, and I hope you all enjoyed it, also if you don't mind, I would like to know how well I'm doing at keeping everyone in character. Anyway, I will see you next week, so until then take care and stay safe.


	4. The Eye from Space

"Oh, hi", Jesse stared at her, realizing that she was one of the people that fought the centipede a while back. Somewhat concerned for the strange man, she took a few steps forward and started waving her hand in front of him. "Hello, sir, are you in there." Snapping out of his trance, he realized that she was staring at him, "y-you're the one that fought that monster", his words stumbled out, meeting a real-life superhero. "What are yo-, oh, you must have seen one of our fights than", she realized, "y-yeah I saw you fight that insect monster with your team", he said, trying to make sure that he didn't say anything that would upset her, trying to make a good first impression. Seeing an opportunity to have some fun, she decided to say some white lies, "yeah, that was a tough battle, just glad I had my sidekicks to back me up on that one", she said a playful smirk on her face.

"Wait, your the leader", he impulsive said, but immediately knew he made a mistake when she glared at him, "What, do I don't look like a leader to you", she said, trying to not smile as she saw the man open and close his mouth like a fish, trying to find the right words. "Well, uh, it's just that, you know, I thought the tall one was the leader, and, uh", he muttered out, his face getting redder by the minute, not notching the playful look in her eyes. "You mean Garnet, yeah I guess she does look like a leader, oh well, if looks are all that matter to you", she said with a hint of a chuckle in her voice, enjoying every second of it, glad that he came out here since she needed to have a little fun.

"I-im so sorry yo, I didn't to in-", but he was interrupted by the sound of laughter, laughter that came from right in front of him, which caused him to realize that he got tricked. "You really bought that, hahahahah, I can't believe you fell for it, do I look like a leader to you, hahaha", she howled out laughing, which Jesse laughed a little bit awkwardly, "yep, you really got me", he said nervously. "Hahaha, oh I needed that, names Amethyst, an-, wait a minute, do I know you from somewhere." His heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest, the world seeming to slow down as the woman looked at him with suspicion. "Oh, you were the one that was cheering me on", she realized, as Jesse's heart slowed down as he sighed in relief, knowing that he was safe once again, thanking Pete in his head for suggesting this place. "Yeah, I thought you were, like, totally cool in there yo, when you threw that guy into the chairs, I was like yo man, she's a badass", he told her, not wanting to admit that he thought that she was a man.

She chuckled, "ah, well thanks for the support, but I don't need it, all I need is myself thank you very much", she proudly claimed to herself, even though in the back of her head she knew she was lying to herself. "Doesn't mean I can't be excited, yo", he said as he gave her a smile. "Come on, you don't need to be such a flatter, so what are you doing here anyway, planning to mug me or something", she jokingly said, since this guy looks like he couldn't even stand a chance against a turtle.

"I was just wondering if you could, uh, sign my shirt for me", he pulled out a pen from his wallet and handed it to her, and showered her the back of his shirt.

"Uh, what", she said, quite confused about what was going on, "you know, like you write your wrestling name", he said, also confused as he thought that didn't need any sort of an explanation. "Okay", she said in a questioning tone, not really understanding why someone would want to ruin their own sort, but oh well, it wasn't hers so why should she care. "Done", she told him as she wrote the last letter. Turning his head and trying to see his back, he could barely manage to see the signature, which looked pretty good to him. "Thanks", grabbing the pen, he put it back into his wallet, "so why did you want it anyway", Ameyist asked him curiously, making Jesse give her a 'you must be joking' look, "you know, to have a wrestler sign something for you is kind of a big deal yo." While she still didn't get it, she decided to move on and assume it's just one of those weird things that humans are into, like breathing and junk. "So are you a superhero", Jesse blurted out the next thing on his mind without thinking at all.

"You mean like, Flyman or whatever", she questioned, "it's Spiderman, but yes", he said eagerly. "I mean, I guess w-", but before she could continue, Jesse spurred out a load of questions, "how did you get your superpowers, do you have code names, team name, ho-", "whoa, whoa, slow down, one question at a time please, you are going to give me a headache."

Jesse scratched his head in embarrassment, once again getting overly excited, "sorry, I just, I just never met a superhero before you know, I didn't even know any of you guys even existed like you were just fiction", he explained. While he knew they were fictional, Jesse always looked up to superheroes while growing up, whether it be the X-Men who fought against a government that sought to suppress them or Spiderman for having cool powers and fighting against Corrupt people like Norman who always looked down on other people and who could never be pleased, and so many times in his life did he wish they were real, espellacy during the hardest time of his life. An idea popped into Ameyist's head, and quickly acted on it, "listen, I will answer all of your questions and more, but you will have to do something for me first."

Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "and what is that", wondering why so many people want favors out of him, first the teens and now this, he was starting to wonder if people do this to everyone that is new to this town. "Well, you see, after all of that fighting I'm kind of famished, so if you could get me some food, that would be great, and I will tell you everything you want to hear, that sounds good."

Jesse was hesitant, first of all, what if she lied to him, there would be no reason for her to tell the truth, and second, he only had so much money to spend, and he didn't want to spend it in such little time, no wanting to make the same mistake he did when he first got his allowance. But on the other hand, he could potentially figure out what the hell is going on in this town, which started to make him feel that he moved to Twin Peaks, and having a superhero who likes him would be very beneficial if anything went wrong. "Where you wanna go", he sighed out, making the superhero grin, "are you in the mood for some pizza."

"Here you go, Pepperoni Pizza and two cans of Pepsi, can I get you two anything else", the waitress asked as Amethyst already started chowing down, "no, we should be good thanks", given the weird duo a smile, the waitress walked away, her eyes twitching in frustration, wondering why her father instated on having a 24/5 days a week schedule, and wondering how he was able to stay awake for so long.

Grabbing a piece, Jesse started chewing and was promptly surprised by how good it was, but once he looked over, he decided that his questions outway his desire to savor the taste of each bite. "So, uh, let's get down to business", he said, getting her persimmon and she swallowed the last piece of cheese on her slice, "fine, what do you wanna know." "Ok, so, uh, first question, how did you get your powers' ', he decided to start off with a simple question, wanting to ease into this. "You mean this'', her arm suddenly started to ripple, reshaping itself as Jesse stared in wonder as it eventually changed into a hammer. "Of course I mean that I mean, just, like no one can do that, that should be impossible, but you can do it like, do it like it was just another limb for you, so you gotta tell how you are able to do this'', he told her quickly, his curiosity started to overcome him, ready to hear an exciting tale of danger, heroics, and one woman's journey for power. "Oh, I was just created with it", she stated simply. "Wait, hold on what do you mean created with it, like, are you a robot or something, or like an artificial human or something", he said, confused, as he was pretty sure robots can't shapeshift or anything like that.

The superhero gave him a confused look, having no idea what he was talking about, as far as she knew she was not a machine of any sort. "Um, no, when I came out of my hole I just had it, you know", she responded, but that only left Jesse with more questions than answers. "What do you mean hole, like, just", he said while rubbing his forehead, "your not human are you", he said, as that was the only rational answer in this very irrational situation. "Uh, duh, of course, I'm not, I'm a Gem", she said somewhat proudly. "So you're an alien", he muttered in amazement, he always knew there have to be other lifeforms somewhere in the universe, but he never actually thought that he would actually get to see one, let alone talk to one. "Depends on your definition but yeah, I am." Taking another bite from her pizza, the weird man in front of her was still staring at her, trying to process what he just heard. Annoyed, she snapped her fingers in front of his face, which snapped him out of his trance, "oh, uh, sorry, I just never met anything from outer space before", he said awkwardly.

But before Jesse could continue his questions, the alien decided to ask one herself, "you know, I never got your name", she pointed out. Mentally, Jesse facepalm, wondering how he could forget to tell her such a simple thing, "oh yeah, my name is Jesse, Jesse Pi-Jackson, Jesse Jackson", he caught himself, not wanting to take any chances around here, espellacy around someone who regularly fights monsters for a living. "Ok, so what's your next question", "so, uh, why have I never heard of you before." Now that piqued her interest, worrying that all of his questions were just going to be boring, simple questions, but this one she was not expecting. "We just like to keep to ourselves, not wanting for anyone to get in our way, I don't know all the details, but we were able to make a deal with one of the mayors, as long as you keep us from going public, we'll make sure your town is safe, and as far as I know, other then the mayors that came after and the residents, no one else knows us, and all we have to do is to make sure that we don't show our powers to any outsiders, and the mayors will take care of the rest."

While he didn't entirely get it, surprised that someone in the town hasn't told anyone else as he kept this a secret, he decided to just roll with it. "Personally, I would love to tell everyone about us, would make it so much easier to get food from people, I mean we would be practically superstars, but nooo, we can't do it because someone might hurt themselves if they get some of our technology or some other dumb excuse that Pearl makes, like, yeah Pearl, I get it, you don't have to remind me for the seven-hundredth time, uh, wish she shut up for once", she ranted to him, and while he wanted to ask who this Pearl is, he ultimately decided to just stay out of this feud for now.

Shoving down another slice in her gullet, she looked at the clock and realized it was 2 am. "Well, see ya", she got out of the booth and started walking towards the door, not wanting the others to realize she was gone, remembering that Pearl was an early bird. He wanted to protest since he had so many other questions and they barely started, but she was already out the door, leaving him with the bill.

After paying the bill and leaving a five-dollar tip, he exited the building and started making his way back towards the car, not having a ride since before he went to the pizza place, he told Sadie that he had other business to take care of. He knew it was time to get back when his mind started to slow down a little, and he wanted to get some sort of sleep before his first day at work, wanting to make a first good impression on his boss. This was the very first job he has ever had, while he had applied for jobs before, no one was willing to give him a chance, either because of his criminal background, or his poor grades. It wasn't his fault that his classes were boring as shit, who would ever need to use fractions or equations or that other needlessly complicated bullshit. The only thing that he was even a little bit interested in was chemistry, and he still failed most of the time, no matter how many times that man tried to tell him about this or that, how to combine chemicals, it didn't make any sense to him, it just sounded like a bunch of gibberish to him. The only way he was able to learn anything about it was just getting a bunch of cooking supplies and just putting things in and seeing what happens. It made him laugh a little that he was able to learn more on his own rather than from teachers, but unfortunately for him, that didn't matter to any potential employers, all they cared about was grades rather than actual skill.

So more than ever did he want to impress the first employer that ever gave him a chance in his whole life, and as he promised, he wasn't going to let him down, not by a long shot, and hopefully, he will eventually get enough money to buy a new car, as the quicker, he could get rid of his current car, the better, as all it had was bad memories that he would rather forget. Opening his car door once again, he went in, slammed the door shut, locked it, and lay down on the seats with his clothes still on, which he couldn't give a damn about. As he closed his eyes, his last thoughts were reassuring himself that he would wake up on time, even without an alarm, he was sure that his bladder would wake him up in time, so with those thoughts, his mind slipped into the darkness.

The beautiful sun rose in the distance, casting the moon away for now, as life in Beach City started to begin once again, people going to work, the roaring of engines heading towards the school in the town over, and the sounds of laughter coming from the amusement park, all the while Jesse slept peacefully for the first time in weeks.

But all good things must come to an end as his eyes fluttered open, a yawn coming from his mouth as he snapped his whipped back in place. "What time is it,", he muttered groggily to himself. Scavenging through his pockets, he found the keys to the now-dead child killer, and leaning over the seat, turned on the engine, seeing that the time was 9:50 AM. "Huh, 10 minutes until I have to go to work", he said to himself, without realizing what he just said. But luckily for him, after a few seconds, he did realize what he said, and suddenly he was wide awake. "Oh fuck, oh fuck", he repeated to himself as he quickly grabbed the keys and quickly stuffed them back into his pocket, and flew out of the door. Rummaging around his suitcases, he found what he was looking for, a toothbrush, paste, and a small bottle of water. Knowing how little time he had, he took them out, putting the paste onto the brush, and pouring some water on it, and then got to brushing like a madman. Spitting on the cement, he quickly put them back in, and not wanting to repeat the same mistake he did last night, he decided that he can just hold it in until he gets to his job, sure that it would have a bathroom.

Running through the quiet town with only a few cars remaining on the road, Jesse's legs started to ache in pain. He briefly thought about driving to work, but was against it, since he couldn't take any chances of a cop pulling him over, as he would be immediately arrested from either the cop recognizing him or the fact that he had no ID on him. He already experienced that stress when he was making his way to the town, and he wasn't in the mood of constantly feeling that someone was following him, even when he knew nothing was.

In the distance, he saw it, a smile appearing on his face in relief, but even still, he didn't entertain the thought of taking a breather for even a second. Closing the door behind him, Greg Universe was ready to start enough of washing, and starting a new day of being run into by his new employee. He slammed right onto the ground, luckily on his butt, as panic started to rise as he just realized who he ran into, who luckily was able to keep his balance. Quickly getting back on his feet, he immediately apologized, "I'm so, so sorry, I-I wasn't looking where I was going and I just was so worried and that I would be late an-", "hey, hey, calm down okay, no need to apologize, it was a simple accident, and besides, no one got seriously hurt", assured him. "T-thank you s\ir, I promise I will be more careful next time", he told him sincerely, causing the older man to chuckle, "it's fine, and you don't need to be so formal with me, Greg will do just fine." Honestly being called sir was uncombable to him, while he knew the young man was just trying to be polite, all it did was remind him of his father, which was a subject he didn't actually want to be reminded about. "Now change into your uniform, the shop can't wait forever", "right away, uh, Greg." Putting his clothes into a locker, he changed into a white t-shirt and simple blue jeans, both of them quite dusty, like they have been sitting there for a decade.

Turning the sign around to say open, Jesse stepped back into the open air, the clouds rolling across the big blue sky, as Greg opened the garage door, revealing the place that they were going to be in for the next several hours, "well, let's get working." Sweat dripped from Jesse's brow as he finished drying down another car, making sure to get every spot, not letting a drop of water go untouched. He gave the driver a thumbs up, with the driver smiling in appreciation as he drove off, making the young man grin in satisfaction. "So, you liking your job", Greg called out from behind him, "yeah boss, this is, like, way more satisfying than I thought it would, n-not to say I thought I wouldn't enjoy, just that, w-wel", but the man just laughed, "hey, I get it, people don't usually sort satisfaction with a car wash, and once again, you can just call me Greg", he reminded his employee, "o-oh, yeah, sorry." Coming from the other side of the building, a horn honked three times, "well, busier day than usual today, anyway I will see you in a little bit", he yelled out as he walked to take care of another customer. He leaned back against a wall, knowing he had a little bit for the customer to get through the wash. Today was going better than expected for the traumatized man, work was satisfying, the customers were nice, he had a great boss, and in a few weeks time he should get enough money for a new, not used by a neo-nazi car, he didn't know where he would get one, but he would figure that out later, as he had a job to do.

Water was dripping off of the windows as the car entered into the sunlight, with Jesse waiting there with his trusty sponge, cloth, and a spray bottle, ready to get another car done. Spraying the window, he rubbed the sponge against it, soaking in the water and any remaining dirt on it, with the driver waiting patiently in their car, listening to their tunes. The hood was next, and he scrubbed it like there was no tomorrow, playing a song in his while he worked until it shined brighter than the sun. Soon, the entire was sparkling, clean and ready for whatever journey its owner decides to take it on next, who was currently putting down the window. "Thanks, man, here", pulling out a ten-dollar bill, they handed it over to the worker, who was looking at it with wonder, "wow, thanks, uh", "Shepard, but everyone just calls me Shep", they said with a smile. "Well, I gotta go, have a concert I have to go to, thanks again for the clean by the way, really appreciate it", and with those final words, Shep went onto the road, leaving him with the money, which he gladly put in his pocket.

The sun started to set as Jesse watched the sky as the stars started to come out, but something was off like there was something there that shouldn't be. "Well, that's a wrap", Greg said to himself as he turned the sign around and put down the garage door. Pulling out an envelope, he went over to his new employee, and handed it over, "here, your paycheck for the day." Jesse, shocked, took it from his boss's hands, "wait, wait a minute, I thought that thing I read said that I would get my paycheck at the end of every week, so why", he asked. The joyful man laughed in response, confusing Jesse, "why, because you did such a good job, usually it takes me twenty minutes to dry a single car, but it only took you half the time, and by what I've seen, with the same quality, so of course I want to give you some sort of reward, you earned it", he with a big grin on his face. "Wow, just thank you so much Mr. Universe, I, I don't know what to say but just thank you so much Mr. Universe, I promise I will keep this up", he told him, which made the man laugh again, "I sure hope so Jesse, and once again, just call me Greg", he said somewhat annoyed, wondering how much he had to remind him, but his happiness with his new employee damped his annoyance with him.

A big, loud yawn escaped from the big man's mouth, "I'm exhausted, all of this work really takes a lot out of me, I'm going to sleep early, see ya tom-", "dad, dad." Out of nowhere, Steven ran right towards Mr. Universe, hugging him tightly. "Steven, what are you doing here at this time of day", he asked, knowing that his son usually came to see him when the sun was still up in the sky, not when it was falling down, but he was happy nonetheless. Before Steven could say what he came here for, Greg decided it was a good time for embarrassing his kid, "oh, I want you to meet somebody, Steven, this Jesse Jackson, the new and first employee of It's a Wash, and Jesse, this is my son, Steven, now I must warn you, Jesse, Steven's here can be quite a puncher, so you better not upset him or your chin will be sore for weeks." Blushing, Steven shoved his dad away from, "I-I am not", he stuttered out. Raising his hands up in the air, Mr. Universe decided he wasn't quite done yet, "oh please my dear son, would you hit your very own father", he said, trying to suppress his laughter. "Father, how could you accuse me of such a heinous crime, you should be ashamed of yourself, to not trust your own son, for shame", he said, trying his hardest not to laugh, he decided to play along, figuring out what he was doing pretty quickly.

"You're right, how dare I not trust my own son, oh the guilt, it's killing me, I'm sorry, my son, for not trusting you, ehhh", putting a hand on his chest, he laid down and played possum, all the while Jesse was smiling and laughing. They couldn't contain it any longer as they both burst out laughing as Greg got up on his feet. "But seriously, Jesse, this is my son, St-", "yeah, yeah, I, uh, heard you the first time, and I already met your son", he told them with a chuckle. "Wait, you did", "Wait, you di-, ohh, I remember you, you were the one trying to cheer me up", "and gave you the Lion Licker that you hated, yeah sorry about", he said rather awkwardly, still kicking himself over it. "Oh, well it's okay, you couldn't know, but thanks anyway, it did make me feel a little bit better", he reassured the man, making him smile. "Well since you two seem to already know each other, I gotta ask what are you doing at this time of day", he asked, that question bouncing around in his brain the whole time, getting a feeling that it wasn't exactly good news that he was going to hear. Steven couldn't believe that he almost forgot, he was so caught up with playing with dad that it split his mind, "dad, do you know where mom's light canon is." "Light canon", Jesse said, confused, "what, is that like, some sort of toy or something", he wondered, but Steven shook his head, "no, we need it to destroy that eyeball", he said pointing up to the sky, "eyeball", turning around, he saw what the kid was pointing at, which was a giant red rock which resembled an eyeball coming straight towards the town, "holy shit."

"Jesse", his boss shouted out, he could tolerate a lot of things but curing in front of his child was something he could not, "well what am I supposed to say, and besides I'm pretty we have a much bigger thing to worry about", he shouted back, wondering how he didn't see such a big fucking object coming right towards him. "Yeah, that's why I need mom's cannon, it can destroy that thing, so do you know where it is dad', two sets of eyes turned towards the man that married an alien, making him gulp. "W-well, its, uhhhhh", he rubbed his chin, trying to remember where he put it, until a lightbulb flickered on, "oh, it would probably be the U-Stor", he said, knowing that if it would be anywhere, it would probably be with the rest of his junk that he couldn't bother throwing away, "U-Stor?"

"Here it is", Greg pushed the metal door up wherever it goes, revealing a big pile of stuff in absolute chaos. "How are we going to find it in this mess", Jesse would be the first one to admit that he wasn't known to keep things organized, but there's a difference between being messy and looking like a hoarders house. "Guess we are going to just remove everything until we find it, hahaha", he laughed, which was really not the time, "that will take forever, and we don't exactly have a lot of time", he pointed out, as sweat started pouring out of his brow, as the end of the world, or at the end of this town, is literally staring at him in the face. But luckily for him and everyone else in Beach City, Steven had an idea, "wait, I think I have a solution, dad, you tie a rope around me, I crawl until I find the cannon, I tie the rope around it, and then you pull it out with your van", he cheerfully said with a proud smile. "Great idea Steven, I don't know where I can find a rope, but I think I have an electrical cord in my van, which should do just as well, I'll go get it."

"Uh, this doesn't exactly seem safe, like, what if something collapses when he is under it", he said, expressing his concerns, but Greg just brushed him off, "oh it will be fine, what's the worst that could happen." He pulled out the cord, which was fairly long, but Jesse was more concerned with his last four words, "you do know that whenever someone says that something immediately goes wrong, and the worst that could happen is that your son gets crushed to death."

But once again he brushed it off, "like that's going to happen, you're worrying too much", he told them as he wrapped the rope around Steven's waist, as Jesse's respect for the man started to go down. "Well how is he going to see anything in there, I'm guessing that the garage doesn't exactly get sunlight all that often", he told the man, this time actually considering what his employee just said. "Oh, I think I have a flashlight somewhere around here", rushing back to his fan, Greg grabbed a flashed light and a yellow rag. "Steven, come here", beckoning his son over, he wrapped the rag around his head with the flashlight on top of his head, and after several seconds, the kid now basically had a makeshift headlamp. Jesse had to be honest to himself, Steven looked absolutely adorable, his chubby cheeks being pushed together, with a big smile on his face, ready to go on an adventure, which made him forget the possibility of him being crushed to death by a bunch of garbage with no one to save him. "Well I'm going in", getting on his stomach, he crawled into a small opening like it was a cave as Jesse forced a grin on his face, trying to hide his worry. "You sure this is a good idea", Jesse once again expressed his concern. "Oh lighten up, nothings going to happen", he reassured the man. "Whoa, there's so much stuff in here, I didn't know you golf", Steven shouted out from the hoarder's house as Greg sighed in embarrassment, "yep, your old man here definitely did golf, once or twice, a few decades ago", he said, kind of ashamed of himself. Jesse looked over his shoulder and saw that the eye has gotten a little bit closer, making him gulp, "uh, why isn't anyone else freaking out about this, like, death itself is literary staring at us, they do realize that right", he said to no one in particular, but Greg decided to answer him anyway. "Well, the monster attacks, Gem artifacts showing up, and other weird stuff that happens around the town have kind of numbed us to this kind of thing, it's basically our normal at this point, and besides, the Crystal Gems usually stop these kinds of things before anyone gets hurt." "Wait, I thought there were just called Gems, are there like other types of Gems", he asked, causing Greg to scratch behind his head and look away, "well you see, its, uh, well it very complicated, and I don't completely understand it myself, um, you will have to ask them yourself, see this Gem stuff is kinda something that I try to stay out of, you know, so any questions you have you will have to ask them."

Well shit, he was kind of hoping that Greg could tell him more, since he didn't actually feel that comfortable asking them every single thing that came to mind, as he knew that he lucked out with Amethyst, sure that the rest of them wouldn't be so willing to tell him all this stuff to a complete stranger, but there is one thing that Greg could answer for him, "so, uh, why does Steven have a jewel in his bellybutton." Greg looked away from him, not knowing how to respond, even after years of explaining it to people who moved into Beach City, he has never gotten used to it, but it was inevitable that Jesse was going to ask at some point, so it was better that they get this over with. "Well, you see, his mother, was, uh, a Gem, so, he's", but Jesse cut him off, "a hybrid."

Greg sighed, "I guess that's one way of looking at it", he said back, but Jesse had one more question, "how does the rest of the world not know about all of this, I mean this isn't exactly subtle." That was a question that was much easier to answer for him. "In Beach City, the locals, us, have decided not to tell anyone else about them, it's basically an open secret here, it's basically our way of paying them back, you since they proceed us from the monsters and various other stuff, and the reason the rest of the world doesn't know is, well it only happens around here you know, as far as I know, there haven't any sighting of Gem monsters anywhere else, and the government doesn't exactly pay attention to us, you know, we're just a little town, what reason would they have to suspect anything from us." Other than a few of their powers, Greg basically told him everything he knew, Rose didn't exactly tell him much of her species and their history, telling him that it was for his own safety, and he respected her privacy, even though he felt like she should've told him more about all of this stuff, espellacy once they were planning on having Steven, remembering her telling him that the Crystal Gems would take care of all the gem stuff, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

Jesse was starting to have second thoughts about working at the carwash since it means he will have at least some interactions with the Gems. But he quickly kicked them to the curb, knowing that he got very lucky getting this job, and he wasn't just going to let it go just because of some unfound worries of his. "Hey, I found some copies of your old CDs, and a T-shirt cannon, I never knew you had this", the voice said, shocking Jesse, "wait, you were a musician." "Yep, tried to get into the music industries a long time ago, toured the whole country as a one-man band, but that was a long time ago", he told the man, bringing back some old memories of his, but he pushed them back down, as those memories only bring back thoughts of what could've been. "You know I was actually, uh, a musician myself, was in a band in high school", he told his boss, remembering his time in high school, hanging out with his friends, but those memories were now tainted because now those memories of his time in high school contains a certain man, a man he would rather forget, even if he did help him in the end. "I can show you some of my CDs if you want, who knows, maybe we can play some time", he offered, "that would be great, maybe we can play sometime this week."

Greg excitedly nodded, "I would be up for that, uh, you know you don't have to stay here if you don't wanna", he said, knowing that he was probably hungry and tired after working for so long, but he shook his head, "I'm good, I don't get that good of asleep most of the time anyway, and I wouldn't feel comfortable eating with that thing looking at me."

"Dad, I found it", a big smile appeared on Jesse's face, feeling relieved that he wasn't going to die today, "great, tie it up and we will pull it out", he yelled out, wanting to make sure that his son heard him. Steven crawled out of the pile, feeling the sunlight shining on his face, "you okay", Jesse asked, still worried about his health, and Steven happily nodded, "yep, feeling good."

He smiled at the kid, "good, you know you were really brave going in there", the half-Gem boy gave him a bright smile, "really, Jesse kneeled to the boys height, and gave him a cheerful smile, "yep, if I was a kid, I could have never done that, going into a dark tunnel with no knowledge of what might be in there, I would be freaking out in there, so yeah, your one brave kid."

Steven chuckled in embarrassment, "thanks, but I'm sure you could do it too, I'm nothing special", he self dissipated, "buddy, don't put yourself down like that, everyone's special in their own, and you're no different, well I mean, you are different since everyone special, but I guess everyone is the same in that regard since there, nevermind you get the point." Steven laughed, finding the man silly, but nice, "I guess I am", Jesse smiled, "now that's what I'm talking about." He didn't know why but he pulled out his fist, waiting for a fist bump, which Steven made sure was not left hanging. "All right it's all hooked up, I'm about to get it out so make sure you're out of the way okay", Greg yelled out from his van as he started to warm it up as Jesse and Steven moved towards the side, and with one tugged, the cannon hurdle out of the garage, sending various long-forgotten items flew through the sky and landing all over the place.

But they, Greg, would deal with that later, as they had a town to save, "we need to get this to them", Steven yelled out, "how, we can't fit this in the van, and even if we could it would be too heavy for it", Greg explained, but Jesse had an idea that might just work, "who says that we need to put it in the van." The Cannon scrapped across the ground, tearing up the road with Greg driving, Steven in the passenger seat, and Jesse in the back, who staring out of the window, seeing death incarcerated staring at them, bigger than ever. "We need to hurry, can't this thing go any faster", Jesse said, not exactly wanting to die today, but those worries were going to get worse, "this is as fast as it can go, the only way for this to go faster is if we let go of the cannon, and that isn't an option", Greg said, starting to panic as the eye seemed like it was bigger than the sun.

Steven, seeing the tension in the air, decided to lighten the mood a little, "how about we put on some music", Steven took out a CD from his pocket which Greg recognized, "wait, is that one of my CDs", Steven nodded, "yep." Let my Van into Your Heart started to play, and Jesse started thumping his foot to the beat, "this is actually pretty good", Jesse complicated Greg, which Greg blushed in embarrassment, relieving the tension a bit, but that didn't last long as they saw that the eyeball was nearing the city, only a matter of time before it got to close, making Steven anxiously look behind him, seeing the cannon grind against the road, "are you sure it's going to be okay", Steven asked nervously. Greg, trying to make his son feel better, said their favorite phrase, "if every pork chop were perfect", and as he expected, Steven finished it "we wouldn't have hotdogs." Jesse looked at them in confusion before shrugging his shoulders, assuming it was just a family thing. But luckily for them, they reached the beach, with Steven and Jesse eagerly waiting to make contact with the Crystal Gems as the song boomed throughout the van.

Finally, they saw them, staring at the eye as someone came back to shore, talking about something, but they were interrupted as they saw the van come into view, with the cannon in tow. "He really had it", the bird looking woman said as the trio jumped out of the van. Unfortunately, they had no time to celebrate as gravity started to change around them, as the eye started to pull things towards it, the world started to shake as it desperately tried to keep things down. Jesse and Steven pushed the cannon over towards the gems as they rushed over. "Steven", the three of them yelled out in unison, but they took notice of the stranger helping him, "who is that", the pale women asked, but Amestitys immediately recognized him, "oh, hi Jesse", she calmly said, "wait, you know him", the long nose woman said, but Garnet cut the conversation off, "no time."

"How do we use it", Jesse yelled out, but the bird lady's response was less than stellar, "I don't know, it was Rose's", Jesse face switched into one of shock, fear, and anger, "you don't know, then why did we get it", he yelled out, "dad, how do we use it", he shouted out, knowing that his dad was probably the one that would most know how to use it, but he didn't know either as all he could do was shrug.

The bird-woman was justifiably freaking out, "Steven, this is serious", but she saw something that gave her an idea, "your gem, you have her gem", and before Jesse could ask what the hell she meant, she picked him up and started rubbing his body against the cannon, but it wasn't working. "Stop that", the strong one said, as she put Steven back onto the ground as the pulling got more intense, evidenced by the fact that the van was going forward, pulling the cannon with it. "Shit", Jesse shouted out as he and Greg quickly untitled the cannon from the van so it wouldn't be pulled away with it, but that wasn't exactly good for the van as it neared the ocean. "My van", Greg ran over to his home, grabbed onto it, and tried to slow down its journey into the water. "We need to get this thing working", the bird-woman said, "you think", Jesse shouted out, "well do you have any ideas", she snapped back, as Steven hit the cannon in a desperate attempt to start it up.

"Maybe, its, uh, voice-activated", he suggested, with that being the best idea he had, "like maybe, start, shoot, fire", Jesse shouted at the cannon, trying every word he could think of as the van started to enter the ocean. "It's not working", Steven shouted out, the one time that he was needed, he was useless, and the town was now going to be destroyed because of him. Seeing his son distressed, Greg knew he had to do something, "its okay Steven, we'll figure out something else."

While Jesse knew that Greg was only trying to cheer up his son, they really didn't have the time to figure something else out, but those words would lead to the solution, "r-right because if every pork chop was perfect, we wouldn't have hotdogs", and with those words, the cannon fell to the ground, starting to glow. "Yes", Jesse yelled out as he and Steven tried to lift it up to aim at the eye, knowing that they would likely only have one shot at this, and the cannon felt lighter as the rest of the gems helped the cannon up, and now they can only hope that the shot will land. It's beautiful, those were the thoughts of Jesse as the cannon shot out a pink light that formed into a rose, and then into a beautiful woman, Jesse's eyes sparkled in amazement as the laser reached the eye, and exploded like a firework, leaving a shining pink light up in the sky, and the rubble landing into the ocean but mostly the light.

"Ha, hahahahah", Jesse burst out laughing in pure joy, "we're not going to die, we're not going to die", he yelled out in excitement, as Greg looked up to the sky, muttering one single word "Rose." Luckily for them all of the pieces fell into the ocean, completely missing the city, so no one got hurt. "Steven, you saved the city", Amethyst told Steven encouragingly, rubbing his head playfully. "So who are you", she finally asked the question that was bothering her, sure that she hasn't seen this human before, even though humans all looked the same, he seemed different then the others she has met over the years. "Oh, um, I, I'm Jesse, Jesse Jackson, I'm Greg's new employee", he told her, hoping that she wouldn't recognize him, and luckily she didn't.

"Pearl", she said coldly, making Jesse take a step back, wondering what was her problem. The tall one looked at him, "I'm Garnet '', she said calmly, leaving him the impression that those two weren't exactly people persons or aliens in this case. "You did good Steven", Greg walked up to the five, proud of his son, always knowing that he would do good in the world, but those good feelings would float away when the tide came in, sweeping away his van that he just got out of the ocean, "my van."

"If every pork chop wa-", but Greg cut him off, "I live in there", Greg rushed to the ocean, knowing that if he didn't hurry he wasn't going to be getting it back, "Jesse, help me", he called out to his employee. "I'm coming boss", Jesse rushed over to help his boss pull his van back onto land as the stars shined down upon them.

On the edge of New Mexico, a man was taking a smoke, waiting for a phone call from his employer. "Hm, squealed quicker than I expected", the man mussed to himself, not expecting that it would be that easy to make him talk, espellacy since he was supposed to be the target's best friend. Maybe he was just that good, he did have years of experience under his belt after all. His phone rang, making a small smirk appear on his face as he answered.

"Do you know where he is", the voice on the other line said, "yep, apparently he is staying in Beach City, a small town in California", he informed his employer, farther than he expected, but he was used to long distances, in his line of work you need to be. "Good, and remember, I want you to bring him alive", his boss stated, "don't worry, I will, but I can't promise he won't be uninjured", he told him, expecting that his target wouldn't be so willing." "Fine, all I care about is that he is alive and conscious, but if he dies before I can see him, you won't be getting the other half of y-", "of my one million dollars, yes I remember, you have nothing to worry about sir, you will get your man", he interrupted, having been told this by his employer multiple times, wondering what his target did to piss him off so much, but he wasn't getting paid to ask questions. "Good, call me back when you get there", and with that, he hung up. Putting his phone back into his pocket, the hunter sighed as he rubbed the cigar against the pavement as he went into his black Plymouth Fury. "Jesse Pinkmen, you're about to make me one rich man."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was chapter 4, and I hope you all enjoyed it, I also want to thank everyone for the great reviews to you have given me, I can't tell you how much it brightens my day when I hear that someone enjoying my work. Anyway, I hope you a great rest of your day and take care.


	5. Small Trouble

It has been a week since he got here, and six days since the eyeball came to town, and things were looking up for him. He got a great job with a great boss, the townsfolk were nice, their food was good, and there was enough entertainment here that he wouldn't have to go out of town, which excited him since it meant he could watch Clash of the Titans and whatever movie that interests him. "There you go, dry as a desert", he told the customer, who gave him a smile and handed him a small tip, which he eagerly took. If there was one benefit of living from a car is that he didn't have to worry about bills or taxes, meaning that a new car would come a lot sooner than he thought.

As he waved him off he put the five dollars into his pocket, already earning fifty dollars from tips alone, and the morning sun was still high up in the sky. "Hey Jesse", Greg came up to him with a big cheery smile on his face. "What do you need Greg", he said, rubbing the sweat off of his brow, once again satisfied with a job well done. "I was wondering if you could deliver this for me", he took a small package out of his pocket and gave it to Jesse, "I need you to give this for Steven, is just a little gift from me you know, a celebration present for stopping that eye", he explained. "Sure, but why can't you give this to him yourself when you go home, I'm sure it would mean more to him if his dad gave it to him", he pointed out to him, while he knew that Greg had long workdays, he didn't work 24/7.

Greg awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, "well, you see me and Steven don't exactly live together." Now that took Jesse off guard, as far as he knew Steven and Greg had a good relationship, what you would expect from a father and son relationship, and not the one he got. "Then who does he exactly live with", he asked, starting to get concerned, "he lives with the gems in the beach house", he told him, causing Jesse to raise an eyebrow, "well then why don't you live with them."

Greg once again rubbed the back of his head, wanting to get out of this conversation as quickly as possible, but he knew he wouldn't get out that easy, "me and the rest of the gems, aren't exactly on the best of terms, the gems have a better understanding, on well gem stuff, and Steven can't exactly stay in the van, it would just be worldly for me and the gems, so we decided that he lives with the gems, and he can come to see me whenever he wants." Jesse gave him a look, a look that was judging him, finding the reason why he couldn't stay with his own son completely bullshit, even if they weren't on the best terms, he was still Stevens father, who both of them obviously love each other a lot, so why couldn't the gems can at least tolerate him enough for him to stay over for Steven's sake. But Jesse didn't say any of this, not wanting to get in trouble with his new boss, and he didn't exactly know about either of them to make a judgment call, learning long ago to not rush to conclusions. "Fine, so where is this beach house."

Of course, it had to be on the other side of town, luckily he already knew where it was when Greg told him when it was on the same beach that they were on when they blew up the eye, a memory that he looked fondly on, making him feel, even considering how small of a role he played in it, a hero. He accepted a lot of things, but what he wasn't expecting was a giant statue on a side of a mountain, "wow", was the only word that could express what he was feeling. The last he felt this way was when he first laid his eyes upon a T-Rex skeleton, stunned by the pure size and magnitude of it.

"Boo", he screamed out at the sudden voice that came right beside him, quickly turning around to see what made that sound and saw the small purple alien, who was laughing at him. "Oh, you should've seen your face, you were like, ahhhhhh, hahaha", she kept laughing as his heart started to slow down as he took deep breaths, a technique he learned to keep himself calm. "Hello to you to Ameyist", he said, trying to laugh as well, even though it was difficult, somewhat regretting doing similar stuff when he was child, now knowing how it felt. "Anyway, so what are you doing, come to see your favorite wrestler", she said playfully, leaning on the man who was starting to feel uncombable, "I came to see Steven, Greg wanted me to give this to him." Jesse showed her the package, "oh", she said, disappointed, "well I was just about to train, you know, get these babies moving", she lifted up her forearms and started kissing them like an eager grandma.

"Can I watch", Jesse blurted out, putting a smile on the purple girl, "you bet you can", and before him she reached into her chest, and pulled out her whip, making all of Jesse's previous excitement disappear. Time seemed to slow down for Jesse as the cracks of the whip echoed around him, his breath got heavier as he was back in his prison, the sight of Kenny pulling back his whip, and hit him with all his might.

He screamed out of pain as his tormenter laughed at him, as he hit him again, and again, and again, and again until he started to bleed onto the floor, he didn't understand why. He worked as hard as he could, was he just not good enough, or was this his punishment for hurting people, for getting people killed, getting Combo killed because he decided to expand his operations, getting Jane killed because he couldn't accept that he fucked up, getting Andra killed because he was greedy.

Deep breaths, he started taking deep breaths to calm himself down, pitying himself wouldn't help anyone, he got a second chance despite all he did, and he wasn't going to fuck it up, that was a promise he made to himself once he left New Mexico, to make himself someone who deserved a second chance. "Uh, dude are you in there, hello", she asked, notching that he was staring into space and breathing like someone suffocating, but luckily her words seemed to wake him up, "Oh, uh, sorry, just kinda, like, spaced out there you know, I'm going to give this to Steven, gotta hurry up you know, got a job to do, so see ya." He walked towards the wooden house that stuck out like a sore thumb, leaving Amethyst bewildered and pissed, not fond of someone blowing her off, "yeah, whatever", she mumbled to herself, not even planning on doing any training at all.

Knocking on the door, he waited, not wanting to be rude, as while he met them already, they didn't talk to each other after introductions, and considering they were basically superheroes, he didn't want to get on their bad side. After a minute of waiting, someone opened the door, and it was Pearl. "Oh, it's you, Jack was it" she said, not pleased to see him, but he brushed it off, "its Jesse, I'm here to see Steven, his dad asked me to bring him this." He showed her the package, making her sigh, "come on in", she let him through the dorm and what was inside was a normal looking house. It had a kitchen, a living room, sure it had a weird circle thingy in the back, but considering that three aliens levied here, it was much more normal then he was expecting.

"Steven, someone's here to see you", "I'm coming", a voice yelled from up the stairs, and sure enough the kid walked down and saw Jesse giving him a smile. "Jesse what are you doing here", Steven asked, he walked up to his dad's first employee, which he was still kinda surprised by since his dad has been looking for someone to hire for years, but he guessed that dreams can come true after all. "Hey little dude, how's it going", Jesse said as he once again kneeled down, and he and Steven fist bump, making Pearl roll her eyes, "pretty good, oh, do you wanna see what the crystal gems brought, it's so cool", but before Steven could run off, Pearl stopped in front of him, "Steven, what did I say about grabbing gem tech without my permission", she said in a serious tone, "that I can only touch a gem artifact with your direct permission", he responded, making Pearl smile. "Good", she said, proud of herself for teaching him so well, with Jesse now being the one rolling his eyes, "anyway, I got something for you."

"For me", he asked with wonder in his eyes, making the man life, "your dad got this for you, asked me to deliver this for him", he explained to Steven. Quickly grabbing it, he tore it open, revealing an action figure of a crying waffle. Jesse was expecting a lot of things, but a crying waffle was certainly not one of them. "Sad Waffle, the last one I need for my collection", Steven ran up to his bedroom, as Jesse looked at Pearl, who sighed, "a character of a cartoon that Steven likes", she explained. Now while Jesse doesn't like to judge people, espellacy kids, a cartoon with a character called Sad Waffle sounds rather strange to him, but he decided to put away those thoughts, remembering how one of his favorite cartoons, when he was a kid, was SWAT KATS, and that was a very strange show.

Pearl walked towards the kitchen table, looking at the small, mechanical ball with a blue light sticking out of it, with a single button on its back. They found it on their most recent mission, with Pearl wondering where they were going to put it, Garnet suggested just destroying it, but Pearl objected to this line of thinking telling her that could also benefit them in future missions, that they should at least figure out what it does first. While Garnet still thought it was too dangerous, she relented when she told her that she would press the button in a secure location, but now the question was where to put it in the time being.

With Pearl lost in thought, Jesse started heading towards the door, not wanting to keep his boss waiting. "Hold up", turning around he saw the kid heading his way with a cheeseburger backpack, "I'm going to come with you, wanna tell him thank you in person you know", he told him, "well now that's quite polite of you, well then come on, let's get going", he told him. "Just give me a second okay, wanna bring some snacks with me", he put his backpack right by the table as he walked towards the fridge. But before he could open it, they heard a scream come outside, which sounded like Amethyst, but while the others were concerned, Pearl just groaned, "what did she do this time, I'll take care of this'', Pearl walked out of the door, leaving the two of them alone. "Should I be concerned", Jesse asked, but Steven shook his head, "nah, Amethyst always gets into trouble, and Pearls always gets her out, it's kinda their thing", he told him, not making Jesse feel any better.

He took a bag of chaps out of the fridge, a brand he didn't recognize, looking like someone wanted to have an exotic name for there product, but couldn't actually bother figuring out a good name, so just decided that replacing on the letters would do, and having a bag of chips, or chaps, in this case, was just weird, but he decided not to comment on it. Unfortunately, Steven was so excited to see his dad that he accidentally ran into the table and fell onto the floor. "Are you okay", Jesse quickly rushed towards the kid's side, helping him get up, "yeah, I'm fine", he told him, not noticing that something else fell into the bag, "well then, let's get going."

Stepping outside, they saw a particularly odd sight, the sight being Ameyist being stuck in the sand with only her head sticking out as Pearl tried digging her out. "How did you even do this", she asked with frustration dripping from her mouth, as she scooped up another pile of sand, but no matter how far she dug, it didn't seem to be making a dent. Jesse and Steven decided that it would be best to not get involved, so they ran off before the two noticed them as Pearl continued to berate her comrade, with Ameyist drifting off to sleep.

"So, what made you come to Beach City", Steven asked as they walked across the boardwalk, and luckily for Jesse, he prepared himself for these kinds of questions before he came here, "I wanted a new change a pace you know, just wanted to try something new", he told him, which wasn't a complete lie, after all the shit he dealt with in the last two years of his life, dealing with aliens fighting monsters in a small town was much better than the monster back in New Mexico. "What did you do before you come here", he asked once again, with this being the first time he talked to someone that wasn't from Beach City. "I was a door to door salesmen", he told him, which was only a half-lie, "cool, you must have met a lot of people, oh, what did you sell", the kid eagerly asked, "I sold, uh, medicine, yeah medicine to people, I was a medicine door to door salesmen."

Jesse tried to hide his nervousness, that while he had been anticipating these kinds of questions, that didn't mean to say all of them were exactly solid. Steven stared at him, making Jesse start to sweet, remembering the fact that selling medicine as a door to door salesman is illegal, "okay." Jesse sighed a breath of relief as they continued on their way to the carwash. Steven happily skipped along the sidewalk as they approached his dad's place of work, which would just be another part of this awesome day. He had blueberry pancakes for breakfast, he finally beat the second boss of Golf Quest Mini, and his father gave him the last action figure he needed for his collection, and now he was talking to his new friend, even if he didn't know that much about him yet. "Oh there you are", Greg shouted in the distance, seeing his employee in the distance, but then he noticed someone else, "Steven."

Steven ran towards his Dad and gave him a big ole hug, "thank you so much", he told him as Greg embraced him as well, making Jesse happy, while also a little bit jealous. While Jesse did a lot of people in New Mexico, his parents were not one of them, actually other than his brother and aunt, he wasn't close to any of his family. He didn't care if his parents were worried about him, even though they are probably happy that is out of there lives, that the black sheep won't be bothering them anymore, but he did regret not telling Jake. He still remembered the day he was born, the tiny little hands that reached out for him, his laughter when he made a funny face at him to calm him down, and the first time he had ever hold him, it was easily one of the best days of his life, and he wished he could have been there more often when he was growing up.

"Hey Stewball just wanted to give your old man a bear hug", he cheerful said, "nope, I just wanted to say thank you for getting me this", Steven took out the action figure and showed it proudly to his dad that started chuckling. "You didn't need to come out all the way here, but I appreciate it, your welcome", Greg looked up at Jesse and gave him a smile, "and thank you for giving him that for me." Jesse gave him a thumbs up in return as Steven let go of his father and accidentally tripped over his own backpack. He wasn't usually this clumsy, but he was just having one of those days, "are you okay", Greg grabbed his son's hand and picked him back up to his feet, as the estranged device rolled away from the duo.

Jesse walked up to them to make sure Steven was okay as a bird landed right next to the device, curious of what it was, never seeing any human that had one of these things. With a single action, its beak landed on the button, the trio distracted the blue light that started to shine from it. A blue beam of light shot out of it, and they were only able to look behind their shoulders, and before they knew it, everything around them became a lot taller.

"What the hell", Jesse shouted out, but Greg was too shocked to be angry about it, with Steven having a different reaction. "Are we tiny, that's so cool", he shouted out, as now he can see his backpack as close as ever, "wow, if this was only an actual cheeseburger", he admired as Jesse's breath started to increase. "No, nononono", blowing up a red-eye thingy was one thing, but being struck down to the size of ants was on a completely another level of horrifying bullshit. "Hey, hey, calm down, we'll, uh, figure something out", Greg tried to reassure Jesse as he himself was also freaking out internally but knew to put a confident facade for his son, who wasn't even worrying that much in the first place. "Calm down, we can literally be eaten by a giant spider, and you're telling me to calm down", he shouted back, "freaking out doesn't get us out of this situation", he retorted.

Greg was right, freaking out was only going to them killed, and he wasn't going to see another kid die under his watch. "You're right, I'm sorry, we need to focus on how to undo, well this", he told him as Steven was exploring his new surroundings, specifically climbing up his now giant backpack. "It's so much bigger up close", he shouted out, and that's when the duo noticed that Steven was high up on the backpack, "Steven, get down from there, you're going to get hurt", Greg yelled out. Steven looked down at the two of them, "its alright dad, its a lot mor-OOOO." Steven was on the path to the ground, "Steven", they both yelled out as they ran towards him. "I got you", Greg yelled as he got closer to where Steven was going to land, with his arms out, but unfortunately for him, the now smaller man started running out of breath.

"Damn it", the father said as his legs started to ache, his weight pulling him down, but luckily for both the son and the father, Jesse had much more stamina, and right when Steven was going to collide with the ground, he instead was in the arms of Jesse. "Are you okay", he asked the boy, and Steven gave him a bright smile, "yep, never going to climb again." Jesse laughed, "climbing sucks anyway", he told the kid who chuckled as Greg ran up to them, "oh thank god, Steven are you okay", Greg said as his employee put the boy down, "I'm fine dad, I promise I will never almost fall to my death again", he told his father, "you better."

"Okay, so I'm guessing for us to be big again, we have to press that button", they looked over to the device and saw a pigeon looking at them, with hunger in its eye. "Uh, good birdy", Jesse said as he would a dog, but it wasn't a dog, it was a bird, a bird who flew up and was coming right towards them. "RUN", they ran as fast as they could as the bird swooped down, its talons barely missing them. Jesse looked around, trying to find anywhere that they could hide, and luckily, he found it, "get under the van." Changing the course of their direction, they headed straight towards the van as Greg's legs started to ache, "come on, not again", he muttered to himself, really wishing that he exercised more.

Jesse and Steven were able to make it under, big enough for them to just run it, but small that the bird couldn't fit in, but Greg wasn't doing so hot as the birds had their eyes on him. "Dad", Steven yelled out in fear as the bird started flying downwards, talons wide open to carry him off for her children. "Come on Greg, Steven already lost one parent, he isn't going to lose another", he muttered to himself, and just when the bird reached the ground, Greg jumped towards his van, and just barely, reached safety. Huffing and puffing, he laid on the ground as Steven hugged him tightly, "your okay, you're okay", he told himself, calming himself down. His boss hugged his kid back, patting his back, "it's okay Steven, your old man hasn't hit his due date yet." But the bird wasn't going to stop that easy, as a giant beak peaked into the van, causing the three to scream out in terror.

But luckily her beak couldn't reach that far in, and eventually, it realized that it wasn't worth the effort, knowing that there were easier targets out there, so pulling its beak out, she flew off. Bravely, Jesse stuck his head out, and didn't see the feathered monster anywhere, "it's gone." Greg and Steven sighed in relief, knowing they weren't going to become bird food anytime soon. Greg got back on his now very small feet, and the father and son walked up to the former criminal. Jesse looked around for any more threats, "the coast is clear", he whispered to the father and son, both of them nodding. Urging them out with his hand, they left the safety of the now much bigger van, careful to not run into any more threats. "Wait", putting his hand out, they made a complete stop as they saw a Boxelder bug crawling across the ground, but it didn't notice them, carrying on with its business.

Jesse wanted to throw up at the sight of it, while he was never a fan of bugs in general, seeing one up close definitely put him off of them. Greatsuring them to continue, they were getting closer to the machine, and once they reached it this nightmare would be all over, and their hopes were crushed as a familiar person walked towards the machine. "Onion", Steven and Jesse shouted out, with Steven hoping to get his attention, making Jesse turn towards him, "you know him", he asked, "yeah, he's, uh, a friend, sorta, do you know him", he said awkwardly, not sure how to describe his relationship with Onion kindly, but he was curiously on how Jesse knew him. "Let's just say we had an unpleasant encounter", he told him, not wanting to embarrass himself by saying that he got kicked in the dick by a kid. "I'm not surprised", Steven mumbled to himself, remembering how Onion can be a bit of a troublemaker at times.

Unfortunately, the dick kicking kid picked the machine, "no", they shouted out, running towards the kid, swinging their arms around, hoping that the kid would take notice, but he didn't notice or didn't care, as, with curiosity, he pressed the button. Just like last time a blue beam of energy shot out, and hit the van, making it the size of an ant. "My van", Greg yelled out, but they had more things to worry about than Greg's mobile home, as with a smile Onion started walking away. "Onion", Steven yelled out as he spirited towards the younger boy, yelling as loud as he could, but he didn't hear as he left the carwash, wanting to play with his new toy at home.

Unfortunately for him he couldn't catch up, as surprisingly people with bigger legs can walk faster than people with shorter ones. "What are we going to do now", Steven moaned, wondering how he could play Golf Quest Mini with his now very tiny hands as his father was over by his van, somewhat happy as other than being very tiny, his home was still in good condition. Jesse didn't have any idea of how they could get out of this situation, they could try using the van to catch up with them, but it was probably not going to be as fast as it was before. Jesse started to panic once again, after all the hell he went through, he was going to become bug food, no one was going to know what happened to him, he would disappear off of the face of the earth, with no one knowing he was in the stomach of a bird. But maybe that's what he deserves, after all the pain he caused to so many people, maybe this was his punishment, he didn't deserve a second chance, he only deserves death for his actions.

Greg had an idea, a stupid idea, but an idea nonetheless as he looked backed at the Boxelder, "I have a plan." Greg's words broke Jesse out of his thoughts, secretly thankful, "and what would that be", Greg hesitated, but he knew that it was their best option at this point,"you're not going to like it." "I don't like it, I don't like it", Jesse shouted out in the air, the wings of the Boxesleter bug buzzing in the wind. All three of them were holding on tight, making them don't squeeze too hard, not wanting to hurt their new compassion, though Jesse wasn't liking him so far. Steven was having a blast, "fly Jerry, fly as high as your wings can take you", he had never been flying before, and he was having the time of his life, the wind blowing threw his hair, and, well the blowing in his hair, but it was such a good feeling he didn't care if he could only list one thing. Greg still didn't completely know how he was able to tame it, knowing that bugs were not exactly the most intelligent of creatures, but if it was getting them to where they need to go he didn't care, espellacy since his son seemed to take a liking to the critter, already giving it a name, which made him concerned since bugs didn't have a long life span. This is why he didn't participate in magic stuff like this, it's just all too crazy for him, while he did like some adventure in his life, this was too far for him, but unfortunately, he had to go on this adventure, and while he did think about flying Jerry to the beach house, there was no way of communicating to them about their situation, not including the fact that they could be on the other side of the world.

Jesse never liked flying, or heights for that matter, it wasn't something that he was ashamed of per se, but he never liked telling people about it, which he now regretted, because not only was he flying, he was riding on a bug, a disgusting, dirty bug, something he never thought would have happened to him, or anyone else for that matter. The buzzing of Jerry's wings was the one thing that Steven didn't like about his new friend, but he knew he couldn't help it, it was just a quirk of his as Steven snuggled up to the bug. "Steven", Jesse shouted out as he saw this, surprising the boy, "what, I was just struggling him", he replied, as he thought every pet owner does this to their pets at least once in their lives.

"Do you know where that thing has been", he told him, knowing bugs go to a lot of places even with there short lifespans, not wanting the boy to get sewer germs, "nope", he told him plainly as he continued snuggling with Jerry, making the bug happy. The young man sighed, while he wasn't one for cleanliness, even he was disgusted flying on something that was basically as dirty as poop, not being one of those people who were turned on by that kind of thing. "There it is", Greg yelled out as he saw Vidialia house in the distance, with Onion entering the house, the strange machine in the palm of his hand, "good, we can finally end this nightmare", Jesse muttered to himself. "Okay Jerry, if you wouldn't mind, can you land on a window still", Steven told the bug, who happily responded to his request, and landed on a white window sill.

Luckily for them, the window was open, revealing Onion's bedroom. The walls were black with a blue carpet, various things laying around the bedroom, looking like no one has cleaned it in years. A small fire lit up in Jesse's chest, the room reminding him of a certain other bedroom he had seen before, it was better, but that wasn't exactly hard. But he knew he would have to deal with his parents later as they stepped in the bedroom, with Stevens' new pet coming in with them. "Uh, you can go now", Jesse told Jerry, wanting him to get away from here as soon as possible, but the bug stubbornly refused. "No, Jerry is family, and we don't leave family behind", Steven retorted, surprising Jesse and concerning Greg, while they knew Steven bounded to the bug, they didn't think that he would call it family, with Greg knowing that he didn't call someone family without really meaning it, with Jesse having dread build inside of him, already getting a sneaky suspension of what the kid will want to do once they get the machine back. The door suddenly opened, revealing a kid smiling at his new toy.

Wanting to try it out, he aimed it at his large teddy bear, and with a single press of the button, it reduced it to the size of a bug. Picking the now small toy up, he got another idea, so he put it back down, and pressed the button again, holding it down. The bear grew bigger, bigger, and bigger, and before he knew it, it was now touching his ceiling. The boy grinned, already thinking of all the ways he could cause chaos around the town, but the team wasn't going to let that happen. "So, uh, how are we going to get it", Jesse asked, not really a planner or a strategist, but he regretted that question as he saw the hybrid looking at the bug with a grin. Flying up in the sky, Steven directed his new friend towards the crotch kicking boy, as the two adults watched on with concern. "Are you sure he's going to be safe, I mean what if the bug suddenly dies, or if it decides to eat him, or", but Greg shushed him, "he'll be fine, just trust him", Greg told him, not making Jesse any better, starting to get concerned over Greg's parenting skills.

Steven started humming Rise of the Valkies to himself, remembering when his dad showed him his classic collection, and this song has been stuck in his head since. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be a clean ride, as Onion noticed the bug, but not Steven, so like most kids, he decided that it needed to die. Jerry was barely able to dodge the tiny monster's hand, "whoooo", Steven shouted out, holding on to Jerry tightly, causing the bug great discomfort, making the once-friendly bug trying to throw the kid off of its back. "Steven", the two adults shouted out, "we need to do something", Jesse yelled, making Greg glared at him, "you think I don't know that", he told his employee, "so what we do", Jesse retorted back, and luckily for both of them, Greg had another idea.

Their muscles ache as Jesse and Greg started pushing a bouncy ball towards the edge of the still, "this, is, so, much, heavier, then, expected", Greg barely muttered out between his harsh breaths. With one final push, the ball fell off of the still, and landed on the floor with a squeak, getting Onions attention. The demonic kid walked over to the fallen ball, allowing Steven to loosen his grip around his buggy friend, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry", he told his friend, realizing he was hurting him, knowing that bugs are quite squeezed, and Jerry accepted it as he calmed down.

The yellow-haired kid picked up the ball, looking around for a breeze, but felt nothing at all, not noticing the two adults looking at him from below. "It stopped", Greg told him, both of them glad that their plan worked out. With determination in both of their eyes, Jerry flew right back at the kid, as all they had to do was get to his eye. Onion scowled as the buzzing in his ear returned, and decided he wasn't just going to kill this bug, he was going to make it suffer.

Jerry dodged the first blow, the kid's fingers just missing the bug by inches as Jerry swooped around, trying to find a good angle to land without dying in the process. He landed on the boy's hand, and he quickly slapped it, but Jerry was faster, so with the few seconds he had, he went right to his left eye. Steven flayed his arms around, hopefully, close enough for the boy to see him, but before the boy could he closed his eyes, thinking that it was trying to get inside, but the boy was smarter than a pest. He slapped where the bug had landed, but once again he flew out of the way.

"We can't get to the eye", Steven shouted out to the adults, "what", they both yelled out, only seeing the mouth move but not hearing his words. He knew he had to do something quickly, knowing Jerry only has so much stamina as he dodged another hand. Suddenly, he remembered a game he was one of the cool kids play, he couldn't remember the full title, only knowing it had shadow in the title, but he remembered how climbed up these huge beasts, and maybe he would have to do the same thing, only with a human child instead of a giant. "One", he let go of the bug, making Jerry concerned, while he wasn't smart he knew whatever his new friend was going to do, it was going to end badly. "Two", he stood up on the back of Jerry, knowing he had to do it quickly before Onion could get another hit in, so he took a deep breath before finally doing the jump. "Three", he shouted out as he jumped off the bug, "Steven", both of them shouted as they saw the boy go off the bug.

He put his hands out as the shoulder of Onion came closer and closer, and he grabbed onto his shirt. He held on tightly as he climbed onto his shoulder, feeling luckier than ever, but he knew he would survive, every person on TV or in cartoons never died by falling, it was unheard of. Luckily for him, Onion was still focused on Jerry, trying to distract the kid from noticing his new friends, who were climbing towards the monster's ear. With a final pull, Steven got up right up to Onion's ear, "Onion", Steven shouted right into the kid's ear. Onion quickly turned around, but saw no one, "Onion, it's me, Steven", he turned to the other side, but didn't see Steven or anyone else. "Look at your shoulder", he shouted again, and finally, he saw him, but he was much smaller than he remembered. He gave himself a pat on the back for coming up with such a good idea. Without saying a word, the kid quickly put two and two together, realizing what probably happened.

"Can you make us large again, we would really appreciate it", Steven asked, making Onion look around again, but guess that the others were somewhere else in his room. But Onion had another idea, he scooped the kid up in his hands, putting him up to his eyes, with the machine in his other hand. Steven gleefully looked at it, finally thinking that he could go back to his usual size, he was already small enough, he didn't need to be any smaller. But he did something unexpected, he put Steven on his bed, and before he could react, he put an empty glass cup over Steven. "Uh, Onion, what are you doing", he said with a nervous chuckle, even though he knew he could not hear him. He turned it over, causing Stevens's body to slam against the button, and when he got up, he saw Onion looking at his new pet, with a sinister smile on his face. He gleeful looked back at the window still, figuring out where the other guests were.

With a sinister grin still on his face, he walked over to the two, and saw them, with fear and anger on their face when they saw Steven trapped, banging on the glass, desperately trying to get Onions' attention to try to convince him to let him go. "Let my son go right now", Greg shouted out in pure anger, thinking to himself that when he gets big again, he's going to punch him in the jaw, not caring if he was a kid or not. But whenever he didn't hear or simply didn't care, he slammed his hand on the still. The world seemed to shake all around Jesse and Greg, desperately trying to keep their balance, not aware of the drop behind them which was coming closer every second. A part of Onion wanted to see them fall, always wanting to see what is inside the human body, so he didn't help Greg when he accidentally walked right off the still.

"Greg", "dad", the two other victims yelled out as they saw plummeting to the ground. Jesse rushed towards the edge after the shaking stopped. But they sighed in relief as they saw Greg holding onto a splinter of wood coming out of the wall.

Jesse reached his hand out but quickly found that his boss was too far away from him. A small crack was heard, and unfortunately, it was from the splinter, not able to handle Greg's weight. A buzzing sound entered their ears, as they saw in the distance Jerry heading right towards them. The little bug landed right by Jesse, aiming him extremely uncomfortable, espellacy when it looked at him. "Bug, you need to save Greg", but Jerry only stared at him, making the former drug dealer roll his eyes, "I mean Jerry, go get Greg", and this time he listened.

He swooped over to the hanging man, but that man had other ideas. "Jerry, go back to Jesse", he commanded, and the bug, while confused, complied and went back to his least favorite of the three, not completely trusting him. "What are you doing back here, I said go get Greg", he yelled at Jerry, but before Jerry could hiss at him, a voice came from down below. "Just get the machine", Greg yelled, "what about you", Jesse yelled back, "I'll be fine, this thing will hold on for at least a little bit, just focus on getting the machine", he retorted, even when he wasn't completely sure of that thought as he heard another small crack.

Jesse gulped as he looked back at the thing, and for some reason he felt like the bug was smiling at him smugly. Hesitantly, he got on the bug, "now how about we take th-", but before he could even finish, Jerry rushed off, knowing they only had a limited amount of time as Jesse screamed in terror behind him. Onion watched all of this with a grin of amusement, feeling like he was watching the climax of a cartoon, a cartoon where he would be victorious.

Jerry went straight at Onion's eye, but the kid ducked out of the way, and before Jerry could turn around, he aimed his new toy at the ball, and right in front of their eyes, it was now the size of an adult. But it was still light, so with a single kick, it was heading straight towards the flying duo. "Up up up up up", the screaming former drug dealer repeated as he saw death rolling right at him, and Jerry heard as he changed his trajectory straight up. Jesse had the dubious task of holding on tight but not too tight so he wouldn't accidentally hurt the little fucker, knowing that both would lead to their death, or more importantly, his. Jerry's wings flapped harder than ever before, making tiny drops of sweat drop onto the carpet below, and he was just barely able to get higher than the ball. Jesse was only able to get a few breaths in before Jerry zoomed right at Onion, who was ready for the bugs attack. But Jerry had a plan, so right when Onion had his hand up, ready to slap down on him as he was once again aiming for his eye, but before he could even put it down, he quickly turned to the right.

Before he could even blink, Jerry went right into his strangely small ear. The buzzing sound steamed right into his ear, he started shaking his head vigorously like a metal fan, desperately trying to get him out of his ear before he could go further into his ear, remembering how one of his friends told how a bug could reach your brain if they go into your ear and kill you. "Get out, get out, get out", Onion screamed, but the little bug wasn't listening as he was scurrying around his ear, flapping his wings to make the kid even more uncombable.

Finally, after several seconds, Jerry's plan came to a conclusion, as the little machine that started this mess fell out of his hands, but before either one of them could get to it, Onion finally managed to get something out of his ear, Jesse. The world seemed to slow down all around him as he fell, Jerry looking back at, but knowing that he couldn't help him, trying his best to stay in the kid's ear, less he also became a splat on the floor, not able to recover mid-fall.

Many thoughts entered Jesse's mind, many emotions swirling in him, fear, anger, sadness, regret. He bitterly thought that of course, he would die here, he just got lucky last time, why does he deserve a chance at a better life, so many others that did less then he died, so it would be unfair if he got a chance for peace.

As he came closer to the ground, he saw Steven and Greg looking at him with shock and fear, with Jesse only wishing that he could tell them one single thing, and everyone else he has ever met, "I'm sorry." So he embraced death, ready for whatever punishment awaited for him in the afterlife, not realizing that another thing was falling as well, and was inches away from the ground. That little device that caused all of this trouble was going to be his unexpected savior, as it landed right on its button, and with one, single blue beam, Jesse was now back to his original size.

He was prepared to die, so you could understand his confusion when he wasn't, so he slowly opened his eyes, and realized he was back to his original size. Onion was panicking when he saw one of his victims was back to normal, not notching the tiny little bug coming out of his ear. Fear gripped his heart, wondering how long he would go to the time out corner if she found out what he did, so knowing what he had to do, he quickly leaped towards his savior, throwing the bottle containing Steven over his shoulder, but luckily for him, it didn't shatter, so Steven was fine.

But Jesse was quicker, as he grabbed it right before Onion could land on it, and when the boy looked up, he saw a small sinister grin on his face. Giving Greg a smile, he enlarged him back up to normal size, breaking off the splitter as well. Onion gulped, giving them an innocent smile, but they weren't buying his bullshit, looking at the Steven that was trapped in a glass bottle. Without hesitation, Jesse reverted him back to his original size, breaking the bottle in the process. Jerry landed on his human's friend's shoulder, rubbing against his neck, making the kid giggle. Greg and Jesse were glaring at him, while Greg and Jesse loved children, and while they could usually put up with and let things slide, this wasn't one of them.

Onion took a few steps back, looking at them with fear, but when all seemed lost for the kidnapper, his savior entered the door. "Onion I'm ho-", she was expecting a lot of things when she came back from work, but two grown men glaring at her son was definitely not one of them. Greg and Jesse didn't know what to say, with Steven obvious to the awkwardness as he played with his new friend. "Uh, this isn't what it looks like", was the only thing that Greg could mutter out as Onion gave them a sinister grin, knowing that they were the ones in trouble now.

"And never come back", Jesse and Greg hit the concrete below, their chins now heavily bruised, as Steven walked right passed out of the door, Jerry still with. All things considering, it went better than they thought, thinking that she was going to call the police on them, but luckily she didn't. Steven helped the two men get back on their feet as Vidalia slammed the door close, not willing to hear their explanation. "Are you okay dad, Jesse", he asked, uninjured, as she didn't feel comfortable hurting a child, especially one like Steven, who she has babysit in the past for, which was probably the reason why she didn't call the cops, at least that's the only possible reason that Greg could come up with. "Other than some bruises, we could be okay, but are you okay Steven, that little brat didn't hurt you or anything, did he" his father asked him, ready to kick down the door if he did, but he shook his head. "Nope, I'm fine, thanks to you guys", Steven gave the men a hug, which they happily reciprocated too.

"No problem buddy, no problem", Jesse said, knowing that while he could never change what happened in the past, he can change things in the present for the better. Unfortunately for him, he was suddenly reminded of the new friend that Steven made, as it buzzed its winges over to the shrinking ball that they still had. Jesse's worst fear came to ahead, hoping that, while he knew that it was inevitable it was going to come up, it would at least not be on the same day that they met the fucker.

Greg instantly knew what Steven was going to ask when he gave him a hopeful smile, giving him the best puppy dog eyes that he could give, so with a sigh, he pointed the machine at the little bug, and he pressed the button. In front of them, the tiny Boxelder bug grew, its beady red eyes growing bigger, able to see more than he could ever imagine, its antenna now was half the size of the giants, its legs stretching out until they were the size of dogs.

It's now large red beady eyes looked up at them with wonder, as they tried to ignore the horrid stench coming from him. But Steven didn't care as he ran up to his now large buddy and put his arms around its head, smiling, finally getting the thing that he wanted so much, a companion. Jesse tried not to throw up, not wanting to ruin the mood, he didn't know why Jerry's smell was so bad now that he was larger, since he didn't smell nearly as bad when he was small, but he really didn't care at the moment, trying desperately to not think about the fact that the creature that the kid was hugging could have lived in a toilet bowl for half of his life.

"Come on Jerry let's go home, the Crystal Gems will be so excited to meet you", he eagerly told him, who happily hissed in response. But Greg had other ideas, as he didn't want to explain to them why Steven now had a giant bug for a pet. "Or, we could have some more fun", he told them, making Jesse look at him with confusion, "what do you mean."

"One two three four", Jesse pounded on the drums as Greg played his guitar, with Steven on the saxophone, with Jerry beeping his head to the beat. While it was absolute chaos, with there being no consistent rhythm, sounding like a child slamming random keys on a piano, it was still extremely fun, something they all needed after the day they had.

Jesse could get used to this, sure while he was looking for some peace and quiet when he came here. He didn't mind the occasional adventure if it meant having more moments like these, where he can have fun without a care in the world, the only that could make this better if he had his three best friends with him. But he knew that could never happen now, as one of them has passed on and the other two could never see him again without putting themselves in danger, and he was not going to lose anyone else as long as he could help it, and that was a promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was chapter five, the last chapter that was written before I ported this to Archive of Our Own. Anyway I'm close to getting chapter six done, so if everything works out it should be released next Friday, but I can't make any promises since I have schoolwork to finish. I also just wanted to thank you guys for the great reviews, it really means a lot to me. Well, I hope you have a good day, so take care.


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